When you say "literally" do you mean to imply he literally paid someone? That's quite implausible.

He can pay lawyers to make the arguments for delaying until after Covid. A public defender isn’t going to do that for you.

> Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to alleviate the outbreak by releasing as many as 8,000 inmates and further reducing the population by about 10,000 through delayed admissions.[1]

I would guess some of them had public defenders. Although I guess they got it without even having to argue for it. Did Levandowski's lawyer argue for it? According to the article Levendowski's lawyer argued for home confinement (unsuccessfully, obviously).

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20200802050956/https://www.latim...

> When you say "literally" do you mean to imply he literally paid someone?

Sadly, "literally" can mean "figuratively":

From M-W:[1]

"in effect : virtually —used in an exaggerated way to emphasize a statement or description that is not literally true or possible"

(Yes, I know they used the word "literally" in the definition).

They also made a special page to explain this.[2]

[1]: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally

[2]: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/misuse-of-lite...

Yes, in this case "literaly" means "figuratively", but still, what's the mechanism? I don't think he paid a bribe, and nobody is suggesting that. One may argue that the judge was somewhat subconsciously influenced by Levandowsky's wealth; this is also quite improbable, the judge in this case [1] is a very high profile judge. In particular he rebuked Trump on DACA.

In the end though, if anything, it looks to me Levandowsky's prison postponement makes his sentence harsher, not more lenient. He will still have to serve his whole sentence in an actual prison, and until he starts the prison sentence his liberty will be curtailed (for example it's very likely he will not be allowed to leave the country). A good defense team would've gotten for him house arrest during the Covid19 crisis, and his defense team argued for this. They didn't get it.

So, literally or figuratively, how did money buy Levandowsky a get-out-of-jail-free card?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Haskell_Alsup#Deferred...

He certainly paid his legal team.