The problem with our judicial system is that punishment and help (rehabilitation) don't appear to go together as in other countries such as Germany.
I also think what a lot of posters are trying to point out is that our criminal justice system is not applied equally for the same crime. If you are non-white you'll get significantly more prison time than if you are white for the same crime. That is a statistical fact.
So, the people that get upset about comments saying, "He should get the max", is that society doesn't say that when the person is white. The media plays a part in it as well.
For example, neither the media nor our government will label white supremacists organizations as terrorists, or the Las Vegas shootings as an act of terrorism, but are quick to call it terrorism if the person has an Islamic religion. They even take it further calling them a Muslim or Islamic terrorist. They call mass killings by whites as, " crazed killer who needs mental help or whe need to keep the guns away from crazy people."
I never heard Timothy McVeigh called a "white Christian terrorist " White supremacists are never labeled as terrorists although they have killed more people in the US under domestic terror than all other groups combined.
It is the hypocrisy of our nation that outrages people.