"Staunch Republican" judge who believes people are redeemable refuses to sentence 17-year-old burglary defendant to five years in prison. Same defendant also convicted of two counts of statutory rape - consensual sex with a 14-year-old girl who is legally too young to consent, and perhaps was pressured into it (and that's why it's illegal). The sex charges are not at play, just the burglary charge. The law gives the judge the choice of either a five-year prison sentence or probation, nothing in between. He prefers a year or two in prison, but since he can't do that, he gives the defendant eight years probation.

Prosecutors, enraged by the judge's refusal to rubber-stamp their requests for the harshest possible sentences for any defendant who insists on a trial, start a media campaign against the "lenient" judge. Such campaign appears to include making up a statement by the judge about the 14-year-old girl at an unrelated conference the next day, having him say "She can't be a victim all her life. She's going to have to get over this." Prosecutors pass this perhaps-fictional statement along to reporter.

Reporter changes "She has to get over this" into "Tell her to get over it," and runs big story about how lenient judge sets "rapists" free and insults victims. Judge's life is ruined - his daughters are threatened with rape in online forums, his address posted, he gets piles of poo in the mail, and even gets his picture with a bulls-eye drawn on it in his chambers.

Reporter, who went on TV insisting that the quote was true and that he talked to multiple sources, admits under oath that he's not sure about the quote and that he only talked to the one prosecutor. Newspaper tries very hard to dismiss libel suit and, so far, has failed. Newspaper insists that reporter going on Fox News and insisting his story is true should not be counted as evidence of "reckless disregard for the truth" about a public figure.

The libel aspect is quite interesting, but you'll note that this Washington Post article doesn't even question the idea that prosecutors might mount a public relations campaign to have a judge removed for refusing to assign the most severe sentences possible whenever they want. People who know the courts just accept it as fact - if you insist on a trial, then if you're convicted, you get the maximum. Period. Judges who don't go along get destroyed.