Free Republic

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Former state Sen. John Ford argues he should spend no more than 33 months behind bars for taking $55,000 in bribes, but the government wants a longer prison sentence, his lawyer says. Sentencing is set for 1:30 p.m. CDT Monday before Judge J. Daniel Breen of U.S. District Court. Ford, 64, contends the government paints an unreasonably harsh picture of him in a presentence report for Breen and miscalculates sentencing guidelines. The guidelines, Ford says, should call for a prison term of 27 to 33 months. "We are going to ask for the lowest sentence possible,"...

Prosecutors eye Rolex to show a pattern of payoffs. Just when it seemed John Ford's legal troubles couldn't get worse, enter a $40,000 wristwatch of questionable origin. Federal prosecutors alleged Wednesday that Ford received the watch -- a diamond-studded Rolex Masterpiece -- in 2004 from prominent Memphis developer Rusty Hyneman. Ford once asserted he got the watch free of charge after using his influence to try to reduce state pollution fines levied against Hyneman, prosecutors said. Neither Hyneman nor Ford has been charged in connection with the watch transaction, yet prosecutors plan to use it as evidence that Ford, who...