It's a minuscule cost to the system that's well worth it to provide justice to this man. It's a cost that is the responsibility of the citizens of the United States, on whose behalf the government acts. The cost, per citizen, of this settlement is $0.002. I'm sorry to hear about your loss, I hope you'll get over your pain soon.

By contrast, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 have cost $1,416 billion, or $4,570 per man woman and child in the country. A hair over a dollar per day (think about that when you're paying for your Starbucks).

The responsibility for the acts resulting in this settlement lies squarely with Carmen Ortiz and her office. If you don't like to see your government wasting dollars on illegal, impudent prosecutions, while, say, letting major financial fraud go unprosecuted, well, say something about it.

600k is nothing, the government probably wastes more than that on a daily basis.