Most likely, Castro's prosecutors decided not to offer a plea bargain because it's a high profile case and they want the maximum possible sentence, and he's fighting despite extremely long odds because he has nothing to lose.
It's all fun and games until Obama calls it an insurrection, kills you all with drone strikes, and then points out that it was perfectly constitutional for him to do so because the public safety required it.
Couldn't have said it better myself, Dan. All their whining about religious freedom is based on a complete misunderstanding of what the term means. They seem to think that they only have religious freedom if they can take it away from those who don't share their beliefs.
The shelf life of gay marriage as a wedge issue for Republicans proved much shorter than they thought and the use-by date is now past. Pretty soon abortion will be the only culture-war issue they'll have left.