A number of folks sent us the link to this story about Technical Sergeant Anthony Lizana who was facing 38 years for his misconduct with eight women on four charges with specifications including dereliction, adultery, assault consummated by battery and sexual assault. He was sentenced to three months confinement and one month of hard labor.

Retired Colonel Don Christensen, president of the not-for-profit organization Protect our Defenders, believes the sentence is very light, especially the confinement.

“He was convicted of sexually assaulting a subordinate. And considering how much of an issue sexual assault is in the military, to have a superior sexually assault a subordinate and only get three months confinement I think is exceptionally light,” said Christensen.

“This is the type of sentence we would typically see for an 18-to-20-year-old airman who abused cough medicine,” Christensen added.

Christensen estimates that Lizana will serve only about 2 months for good behavior. In addition, the dishonorable discharge will have to go through a lengthy appeals process that could take anywhere from one to three years.

Christensen, who served as the chief prosecutor for the U.S. Air Force from 2010 to 2014, also explained the hard labor process. He said Lizana will likely perform his normal duties under his commander. When he’s done performing his normal duties for the day, he’ll do an additional four hours of work. Lizana will also likely have to come in on Saturdays for eight hours and Sundays for four hours. The extra tasks could include painting or pulling weeds.

“In a word, it’s a joke,” Christensen said of the hard labor punishment.