I understand how shitty it sounds at first glance, and obviously OP didn't purposely murder the dude, it was accidental. But you can't take back a life. When you kill someone, that's all folks. We don't do the death penalty for a lot of good reasons so outside of war it's not ok for us to dole out the death penalty. The guy was subdued. He needed to go to jail, that might have helped him. OP got much needed therapy in prison which is another reason I'm happy he went (because he might not have bothered if he wasn't charged and you need it if you kill someone) and Irish dudebro probably needed that too for anger management.
I'm not saying OP is a murderer or anything like that. He's not. He's a good guy who got caught up in a bad situation. But he earned his time, and it's important that he served it. Still, the thing that really bothers me is that he'll be treated like an ex con forever now, and that's something I hate but that has nothing to do with what he did and all to do with how society treats people who committed crimes. I'd wholeheartedly support having your record erased or kept on lockdown so it doesn't affect your employment prospects for crimes of adrenaline or passion, but too many people support punishing criminals.
I think people's anger at me comes from that "criminals are bad and must be punished mentality", and as a result they see OP and think I'm an asshole for supporting him going to jail but that's not how I view the justice system. One guy below said he hopes someone kills me. Lol.
I view the justice system as a time out from society. We shouldn't use it to torment people. When your kid fucks up do you scream and carry on at them? Or do you discipline them and more importantly, TEACH them?
Jail should be a rehabilitative experience and an opportunity to receive the attention you need to return to the world in good faith - you know, providing therapy, mental health counselling, medical care to help people kick drug habits, education.
That's what OP says he got. And people who don't get that - well it's not that they shouldn't go to jail, it's that the jail has failed to provide the services they needed.
So I will reaffirm my belief that yes, OP earned the jail time he got, he served his time and got help, and has returned to society, and I pass no judgement on his character for what he has gone through.