I agree they could have never won. Completely agree. I think it is good they pled out (I said as much in another comment in this thread to someone else). I was hoping they would plea out, because they probably were the worst case to ever possibly bring this case forward. I think they were sure to lose, and insofar as the plea, they made the right decision.

You are missing the point that they were raising money on the explicit basis of “we are going to fight and appeal this”. They got a million dollars to do it, which is at least 20 times what it actually costs to fight this case at trial. Maybe 40. That they were asking for somewhere along the lines of 300-360 times what trial and appeal costs makes it very, very obvious that they did not ever actually intend to fight the case. From the very beginning, this fundraiser is obviously just a means at shekel grubbing. They never intended to do anything but plea, and the monetary theft and fraud they have done to the community is even worse due to the fact that it took attention, thoughtful analysis, and resources away from the people who actually got 30 years at sentencing, are actually appealing their case, and actually intended to do so from the beginning. If you cannot see that, well, perhaps there is something about your cognitive ability that you are not capable of understanding.