When Benson A. Snaider entered a guilty plea for stealing $800,000 in client funds from the owners of Stamford’s Minchin Buick, the victims, their lawyer and other Connecticut attorneys were surprised he received no prison time.

“I’m shocked,” said Mark Katz, a Stamford lawyer who represents the auto dealership’s president, Henry Minchin, and his son, general manager Scott Minchin, in a civil case scheduled for trial in January.