What do you find so harsh about this sentence? The Madrid train bombing resulted in 190 deaths and a couple of thousand wounded. If the 21 who were found guilty in Madrid had been found guilty in any court in the US they would almost certainly have received the death sentence. There is no death penalty in Spain.
Sandy King
It is always difficult to compare the laws of nation states like Spain with "sovereign but within a Federal system" states like Virginia (or, for example, Oklahoma).
So your analogy is somewhat flawed.
Now, as to a more direct comparison - it is true that Timothy McVeigh was tried, convicted and executed under Federal law. But his co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, was able to avoid a Federal death sentence and was also not, subsequently so sentenced under Oklahoma state law where the jury could not reach a death penalty recommendation. Instead he serves 168 consecutive life sentences. (sound familiar?)
Once difference, of course, is that McVeigh refused to appeal his sentence and "chose to die" for his "cause". Nichols fought to live - and achieved his goal of life without parole.
[BTW, for those who do not understand the reference, these were the two fellows who killed 168 innocents (including children in a day care center) at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City, OK in April 1995.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing
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