U.S. District Judge Richard Berman of the Southern District of New York defended his imposition of a substantial community service sentence, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sided with both the defense and prosecutors in questioning the reasonableness of the 300 hours each year of a three-year supervised release.

He stated in an opinion released Thursday that he believed the sentence was not only reasonable but was the kind of reprieve from incarceration that advocates routinely argue more nonviolent offenders should receive.