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Legal analyst weighs in on judge's decision to allow Gary Lindsey to walk free

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — It may be impossible to know what a criminal will do in the future, but judges have the burden of trying to predict it.

And when the man who killed four children last week and shot an Orlando police officer burned a house down in 2010, a judge thought probation, rehabilitation and restitution would be enough.

If Gary Lindsey had gone to prison for the arson, the children’s deaths may have been prevented.

"I can probably count on one hand how many suspended sentences I've done," said former judge and WFTV legal analyst Belvin Perry.

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The judge could have ordered Lindsey to serve 36 years behind bars for burning his former girlfriend's house down eight years ago.

But instead, he gave him two years of house arrest, followed by probation.

"I can't find fault with the judge's rationale for why he did what he did," said Perry.

The judge considered how Lindsey's diabetes and thyroid condition impaired him during the arson and the unsophisticated way in which he did it, with no attempt to hide evidence.

The judge also looked at Lindsey's ability to get a job and pay the victim $35,000 for damages.

"In the judge's mind, restitution was very important to attempt to make this victim whole," Perry said.

Perry said the burden of trying to predict what a criminal will do in the future weighs heavily on all judges and sometimes their decisions haunt them.

"It's the sort of things that leave judges not sleeping at night," he said. “I’ve seen judges actually cry and are just totally devastated because they don’t intentionally make bad decisions.”

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Lindsey ended up violating his probation four times.

One of those violations was a grand theft at a Walmart. Again, the judge was still concerned about the arson victim getting her restitution back.

The other three violations were technical.