French rock star Bertand Cantat served just 4 years for beating his mistress to death

[muriel_volestrangler]

In 2003, Cantat began an affair with French actress Marie Trintignant. On July 26 of that year, Cantat and Trintignant got in a fight in a hotel room in Vilnius, Lithuania, following a dispute over a text message. Seven hours later, Trintignant’s brother called emergency services to go to the couple’s Lithuanian hotel room, as Trintignant had slipped into a deep coma. She died of swelling to the brain several days later in hospital.[2] The post-mortem examination suggested that Cantat had inflicted 19 blows to Trintignant's head, causing irreversible brain damage.[3] In court, Cantat claimed he "slapped" Trintignant four times before putting her to bed.[4] He claimed he had flown into a jealous rage after she received a text message from her ex-husband.[5] Trintignant was 41 at the time of her death, and left four young sons. French medical experts at the hearing confirmed Cantat's claim regarding the slapping, as well as his claim that he could not tell that Trintignant was dying. His house was burned down in Moustey. His spouse and his two children initially were supposed to be in the house at that time, but were in Bordeaux, instead.[6]

On 29 March 2004, Cantat was sentenced by Vilnius Regional Court under Article 129 of the Lithuanian Criminal Code to eight years in prison for murder, committed with indirect intent (dolus eventualis). The verdict was at first appealed by Marie Trintignant's family, who believed that her killing warranted a harsher sentence, and later by Cantat himself, who wanted the higher court to reclassify his crime as manslaughter, and therefore lessen his sentence. Both parties ultimately decided to cancel their appeals, which rendered final the original sentence of eight years. At the request of his lawyers, Cantat was moved from a Lithuanian prison to a prison near Muret, France, on 28 September 2004. Cantat served four years of his eight-year sentence in prison. According to French law, after half of a prison sentence has been served, a criminal with good behavior can be released to serve the rest of his sentence on parole.[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Cantat

I found out about this because:

Bertrand Cantat: Killer rock star pulls out of French festivals

A petition signed by almost 75,000 people called for his removal from a Normandy festival performance in May.
...
The murder sent shockwaves through France at the time, but he was released in 2007. Cantat later returned to music with a new album in 2013.

The controversy around him has steadily increased in recent months following his launch of a solo career.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43386417

4 years for a violent murder? That's really fucked up. Good to see he's finally getting some pushback.

[whathehell]

1. That's hideous..

and makes me view our tougher justice system in a new, more favorable light.