The federal agency that will play a pivotal role in guiding the sentence of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell has recommended that the onetime Republican rising star spend at least 10 years and a month in prison, according to several people familiar with the matter.
The guidelines recommended by the U.S. probation office are preliminary, and even if finalized, U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer is not required to follow them. But experts said that Spencer typically heeds the probation office’s advice, and judges in his district have imposed sentences within the recommendations more than 70 percent of the time in recent years.
“It’s of critical importance,” said Scott Fredericksen, a white-collar criminal defense lawyer. “The fact is, the vast majority of times, courts follow those recommendations closely.”
The matter is far from settled. The probation office recommended a punishment from 10 years and a month to 12 years and 7 months. Calculating an appropriate range of sentences in the federal system is a complicated, mathematical process that takes into account a variety of factors, including the type of crime, the defendant’s role and the amount of loss. The judge has yet to see the arguments from each side.
This sentencing threat is overkill. The stark reminder is that McDonnell broke no Virginia laws. I will be outraged if he receives a 10 year sentence.
I am not a Bob McDonnell fan. I voted against him in every race and contributed to his opponents each and every time. However, Bob McDonnell isn’t a criminal. He exercised poor judgement. Bob McDonnell is a choir boy. He got caught up in his own naiveté and his wife’s ambition.
1500 hours of community service would send a strong message. 10 years in prison is criminal. The man’s political career is over. Let’s not kill him. Make no mistake. Regardless of what you hear, there are no “country club prisons.” Those prisons have the same scum bags that regular state prisons have. They have drug king pins and mafia members. Bob McDonnell doesn’t deserve that. Give him house arrest for a year. Just don’t send him to federal prison. People spend less time in prison for manslaughter. McDonnell will be sentenced in January 2015. His wife Maureen will be sentenced in February.
I disagree with the characterization that McDonnell is a “choirboy”. We call him TollBooth Bob down here in Hampton Roads. He sold out the taxpayers to foreign investors to build a new midtown tunnel. We are stuck with tolls on not only the new tunnel for 58-years but on the Downtown Tunnel as well. It was a pure abuse of the P# (Public-Private-Partnership). It was all done in secret with no public input. All led, pushed and done by McDonnell. And lets not forget the Rt-460 toll road fiasco. $360-million taxpayer dollars spent and not one inch of asphalt down. Taxpayers got nothing for all that money. Question is, how much did McDonnell get for it? I’m told that the FBI did not search for Swiss bank accounts in their investigation. Its not just his use of Public Office for personal gain, he stuck it to taxpayers in many other ways as well. I hope he gets the entire 10-years and then some. I would be willing to forgo any prison time for his wife. It was McDonnell driving that Ferrari while showing his Rolex in that photo that sealed the deal on him. Sorry no sympathy for TollBooth Bob McDonnell from Hampton Roads. And I voted FOR him, both for Attorney General and for Governor.
Welcome Enki. I did not vote for him for any office. His world view and mine are simply not simpatico. However, I am not so sure he needs to serve 10 years. Apparently he broke no Virginia laws.
I want his wife serving lots of community service time. She was greedy.
The fact that he did not break any Virginia laws only points out the total lack of ethics on the part of Virginia legislators. He did break Federal law and codes. How sad that Virginia must be baby sat by the Feds because Virginia refuses to behave like ethical people. If you are to view McDonnell’s entire lack of ethics, not just the ones the Feds prosecuted on, you see a different picture of a greedy politician who was in the back pocket of more than just Williams and his huckster pills. Every time the good people of Norfolk and Portsmouth must travel through those tunnels they will curse the soul of TollBooth Bob McDonnell.
I don’t disagree with what you are saying. I just hate seeing a Virginia governor in jail. I don’t think McDonnell has any fans on this blog. Most people want a stiffer sentence for him than I do. I probably disliked him the most from the start. I have ranted and raved about Governor Ultra-Sound. I ranted and raved before he was elected, mainly over his thesis which to me was an indicator of how he would govern.
I am sorry Jonnie Williams escaped jail time. I don’t care what happens to the wife. She is greedier in my opinion. McDonnell is guilty of falling for happy wife happy life.
You are right that Virginia needs to shore up its ethics laws. It speaks volumes that the last legislative session did nothing to really fix things. I guess life was too cushy for them to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.