His attempted murder charge remains wholly relevant.
Relevant to your tangent about how people may view him. Not relevant to the rest of the thread about his sentencing.
Imagine this : an illiterate druglord from Harlem/Brooklyn pleads guilty and gets 20-30 years in prison and an educated guy who tries to fight the system (even though he was guilty in my opinion) gets life in prison without the possibility of parole...
who is more useful to society ?
the illiterate/retarded/ drug dealer from Harlem who in 20 years would be just as retarded as before with slim chances of rehabilitation, or an educated guy who in 20 years from now might have something to give back to society : such as advices to young men following in his footsteps...he could lead some really interesting seminaries and help a lot of people along the way to learn from his mistakes but as it turns out he will never have a second chance
The prison system in the US is just wrong...locking people up is not the solution, re-educating them should be a main priority....life in prison for Ross is unfair to say the least...the 20 years prison sentence would've been more appropriate but the US judiciary system has no interest in rehabilitation...