Is it permissible to give a bribe to a judge to reduce a sentence from two years to a shorter period for a sick man in his sixties who was arrested due to bounced checks?

Mitigating a verdict because of the circumstances of the defendant, whether he is in the right or in the wrong, does not permit bribing the judge to rule accordingly. Bribery is forbidden by the consensus of the exegetes, and it is an illicit gain. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, cursed the briber, the bribed, and the intermediary. If one bribes him to rule in his favor when he is in the right, the ruler has committed a sin by accepting the bribe, and the briber is blameworthy, and the judge's ruling is not enforceable. If one gives him a bribe to rule in his favor when he is in the wrong, the ruler has committed a sin from two aspects: his taking of the bribe, and his ruling unjustly, and likewise the briber.