Huh. Well, I fear that, in encouraging you to explain in greater detail exactly what happened, that I've opened a rather large can of worms.
Being a regular member here, I can't pretend to explain away everything the Admins do. I'm not a part of their discussions, so I don't know the motivations behind their actions. And I can't really say anything for this specific scenario, either. All I can say is this: The Administrators work day and night to maintain order in our community. As long as people continue to attend the Disco forums or the server, their work is endless. It is often thankless. And with so much to do, I don't imagine that they have the time to give each sanction report a fair and lengthy trial. I'm sure they try their best, but there's only so much deliberation that can be done before an action has to be taken.
This player that you were trying to defend sounds like he may have benefited from a second chance. And when the time comes, he'll get one. With a few notable exceptions, bans don't usually last forever. I think that "Ban" itself is too harsh a word for the time-outs that are given here. If anything, all it does it give a player time to reflect, or read up further on the rules. I won't claim that these "bans" are always effective, though. But they "keep our streets clean", as bad as that may sound to some.
I would also go on to discuss the fact that we're on the internet, and that the internet is a place commonly inhabited by jack-asses, which immediately puts people on edge when it comes to newcomers... But I think I'm all paragraph'd out from writing that previous post that I never posted.
So all I can do is sympathize, and offer an apology. I'm not trying to apologize for any of the people who you feel wronged by, but just for myself. We all try to do what's right. Sometimes it just comes out wrong for some people.