Posted on 01/06/2015 6:44:08 AM PST by GodAndCountryFirst
A federal judge in Richmond on Tuesday will sentence Bob McDonnell on public corruption charges that could land the former Virginia governor in prison for more than a decade.
Sentencing guidelines stipulate that McDonnell should receive around 10 years in prison after his September conviction on charges he accepted more than $150,000 in gifts from a wealthy businessman in exchange for preferential treatment.
But the governor’s defense lawyers have argued that McDonnell should only serve 6,000 hours, or 250 days, of community service.
Jeffrey Bellin, a law professor at The College of William and Mary, said judges have wide discretion in determining sentences but usually stick close to the guidelines.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
If he were a Democrat, it wouldn’t even be condemned in editorials, much less go to trial.
Welcome to the national Gulag.
Leftist kill.
They are killing the country.
No dissent allowed.
And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt!
Solzhenitsyn
“How is that people who have been crushed by the sheer weight of slavery and cast to the bottom of the pit can nevertheless find the strength to rise up and free themselves, first in spirit and then in body; while those who soar unhampered over the peaks of freedom suddenly lose the taste for freedom, lose the will to defend it, and, hopelessly confused and lost, almost begin to crave slavery”. Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Warner skates quietly by after having established contact with the daughter of a departing State Senator about a job offer in order to possibly dissuade him from leaving.
The charges were ridiculous. Al Sharpton killed 8 people and lost a $300,000 judgment, yet he walks the land with cash in his pocket.
This a.m., Richmond’s AM station WRVA 1140 mentioned the judge making the determination is a Reagan appointee... for what it’s worth.
James Trafficant got sent up for 7 years for similar stuff. He had to serve the full 7 years. I thought at the time and still do that it was way too much. Pedophiles who sexually assault kids only get a year or two. I think the average murderer serves less than 10 years.
For a person who has never committed a crime previously and commits a non violent type crime a year or two is a lot of punishment. Maybe make him pay the $150,000 back. For most of us just the public humiliation would be enough.
Indeed. George Allen got off easy: he merely lost his re-election.
Still. . . the precedent of Obama Administration needs to boomerang onto the Dems when Conservatives take control.
Send Charlie Rangel to jail for Tax Evasion. Amongst other things. . .
“The railroading of Bob McDonnell” No.
“He is being sent away for being Christian, conservative and a threat to the Hillary machine”
No, he was convicted, rightly so for corruption. Nothing Christian or conservative about that or him.
He squandered his political future himself. He deserves to go to jail, and it is likely that he will.
“who has never committed a crime previously”
He is not “just a person” he was Governor, for crying out loud.
He deserves jail. He was rightfully convicted of corruption - and was indeed corrupt.
“George Allen got off easy: he merely lost his re-election.”
GA was a victim of political double standards.
Geez, what are we? McDonnell was a corrupt governor to the highest and most egregious degree. There was a pile of loot that was placed before the jury. Did you see it? He knew better, but did it anyway.
We need to stop whining about this POS going to jail as if he was railroaded.
He was not railroaded. He was an idiot - and sold his soul (cheaply) and got caught red-handed.
I’m not saying he shouldn’t be punished I’m saying 10 years is too much based on the time hardened criminals get.
“I’m not saying he shouldn’t be punished I’m saying 10 years is too much based on the time hardened criminals get.”
His corruption needs to be punished severely. We cannot have his sort of behavior at the executive level in states like Virginia. 10 years would be an appropriate sentence in my opinion, but if he gets more than 3 years, I’ll be surprised.
Up the river - be gone with him and his wife.
“web of obscure laws and regulations that, on the average, makes ANY American guilty of three felonies a day, plus a grand jury system that can indict a ham sandwich.”
McDonnell was stupid, I’ll grant you that - but he was hardly convicted of violating “obscure laws” He sold out and he sold out cheaply. There was a literal PILE of loot. There were sweetheart loans. He was a corrupt hack who deserves to be in jail - not on obscure statutes but on time-honored standards of corruption.
He is a fraud and a liar, which is documented.
He wasn’t a ham sandwich, he was a smorgasbord of influence peddling and self-dealing and corruption.
It’s important for folks to realize this. He is not a hapless character who ran afoul of arcane reporting requirements. He must do hard time.
“He squandered his political future himself. He deserves to go to jail, and it is likely that he will.”
That IS the official story, of course.
But I know a commie show trial when I see one.
“But I know a commie show trial when I see one.”
Good grief. Ok, when is the last time a “friend” gave you a rolex and a $150,000 “loan”?
That’s just a couple of things
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.