Absurd Mandatory sentences: Killing in self-defense is o.k.- but firing a warning shot gets you 20 years!

CBS News [...]   According to Wollard, the young man lunged at him and punched a hole in a wall; the teenager disputes that. But no one disagrees about what happened next. 

"So I fire a warning shot into the wall, [and] I said, 'The next one's between your eyes,'" said Lee. 

Sandy continued, "And the kid turned around and just hurried out the door. And that was the end of that."

Not quite. 

Wollard was charged with shooting into a building with a firearm, aggravated assault, and child endangerment. And when he went on trial a year later, a jury convicted him of all charges -- and then Judge Donald Jacobsen sentenced him to 20 years in Florida state prison, the mandatory minimum.

That means Wollard will serve every day of 20 years in state prison.[...]

It didn't matter that Lee Wollard was a first offender, or that no one was physically injured. In Florida, a conviction for aggravated assault involving a firearm means an automatic 20 years. That's the mandatory minimum sentence.

"I looked at him and told him, 'I would not be sentencing you to this term of incarceration, 20 years Florida state prison, if it were not for the fact that I was obligated under my oath as a judge to do so,'" said Judge Jacobson.[...]

And Wollard's sentence seems particularly harsh, says his wife, when you consider that in Florida, if you happen to kill someone while "standing your ground" in self-defense, you may face no charges at all. 

"But if you shoot a warning shot just to scare them away, you'll get twenty years in prison," said Sandy.[...]