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I don't think you're completely off-base, but seems like Meshkout was taken aback because for that moment the assembly-line nature of the process stopped and some attention was given to one case in particular and he was actually able to change the state of this machine, where before he was a semi-helpless cog that simply chugged along with it.
The power to convince a judge to drop a sentence from 180 days to 2 shouldn't be based on the vehemence of the attorney making the request.
The legal system isn't supposed to consider the, I guess, 'honor' or reputation of the defense attorney when rendering judgment. So while perhaps the Judge was indeed signalling her willingness to extend leniency in cases where the attorney credibly believes it to be justified, it is still weird that simply asking such a question can completely reverse an outcome like that.
By default, in practical terms, a defense attorney who claims "this situation is different, please treat my client more leniently than the norm" has zero credibility. Everyone else involved has been around the block enough times to know that this is almost always reading from the defense attorney script, and probably has no relevance to this particular situation. It's not even lying, exactly, because the defense attorney has no expectation of being believed.
So when it's (arguably) true, the defense attorney has a problem. In this case, Meshkout tried to signal sincerity by pushing past the script, asking for lenience past the point where "normally" a defense attorney would just take the L. The judge noticed, and took the risk that it was a true signal, not just yet another defense attorney coming up with yet another shred of credibility to burn.
In direct terms, no, but that's not exactly the point. Actors in the legal system have some level of discretion (like the judge, here), and they are supposed to use that discretion in the interests of justice. This case is about communication--how can an actor with no credibility signal sincerity? Usually, he can't. In this case, Meshkout found a solution that might work in the future if it's not misused.
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