If anybody is saying that there should be no punishment then they are also wrong. The problem is the blatantly racist sentencing.
To paraphrase Hubert Humphrey (which I don't often do), it is time for america to grow the fuck up when it comes to civil rights/race. Yeah, the remarks being paraphrased here were said in 1948.
Sadly, I'm confidant we'll be reading similar stories in 2025 & there will still be people vaguely or outright defending it.