to be of the first degree. Sentences The four were sentenced to state prison as follows: Jason Holland - life without possibility of parole plus eight years. Brandon Hein - life without possibility of parole plus four years. Tony Miliotti - life without possibility of parole plus four years. Micah Holland - 29 years to life. Christopher Velardo pleaded guilty separately to voluntary manslaughter and conspiracy to commit robbery and was sentenced to eleven years. Velardo was released from prison in 2000. Supporters The case attracted international attention and support, due largely to media coverage of the charges, the application of the felony murder rule, and the long sentences imposed. Director William Gazecki made a documentary film called Reckless Indifference about the murder, trial and resulting prison sentences. In his film, Gazecki argues that the defendants received an unfair trial and overly harsh sentences. A bill by former California state senator Tom Hayden to revise California's felony murder rule died in the Senate. Actor Charles Grodin wrote and directed a sympathetic play, The Prosecution of Brandon Hein. In 2005 Gazecki was a guest speaker at California State University Los Angeles, where his film was shown to Soren Kerk's sociology class with the question in mind, "What is Justice?" Detractors Although the crime occurred outside his jurisdiction (in Los Angeles County, not in the city of Los Angeles), Los Angeles police chief Willie Williams wrote to Judge Mira recommending the maximum punishment for all four defendants: life in prison without the possibility of parole. In an interview with Farris' parents his mother asks, ”How much is too much time for killing someone? For taking away and changing our lives completely, forever?” Controversy Supporters of the defendants as well as opponents of the felony murder rule have expressed various concerns and criticisms. Regarding the charges According to William Gazecki and other critics, the prosecutor's office was spurred to lay the heaviest possible charges by the victim's father, an LAPD officer; and says that if the victim had not been a police officer's son the felony murder rule would never have been applied. In a CBS 60 Minutes II segment, a spokesman for the defendants' families charges that the boys were punished not for what they did, but for who was killed. The spokesman says, "It's about a police officer's son who died. And the only way they could convict all these kids