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McDonnell’s attorneys will seek public service for former Va. governor McDonnell’s attorneys will seek public service for former Va. governor
(about 4 hours later)
Defense attorneys for former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell asked a judge on Tuesday to spare their client from any prison time whatsoever — arguing in court filing that 6,000 hours of community service would be sufficient punishment for the once illustrious politician whose life is in shambles because of the successful public corruption case against him. Defense attorneys for former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell asked a judge on Tuesday to spare their client from any prison time — arguing that his life is already in shambles and that 6,000 hours of community service would be punishment enough.
Pronouncing the former governor’s political career “dead” and claiming his marriage had “fallen apart,” McDonnell’s defense attorneys urged U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer to consider a sentence below what even they believe federal sentencing guidelines would recommend. In a court filing that pronounced the former governor’s political career “dead” and claimed that his marriage had “fallen apart,” McDonnell’s defense attorneys urged U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer to consider sending their client to tutor students in Haiti or help manage a food distribution facility in rural Bristol, Va.
They argued that McDonnell and his family had “already suffered tremendously” during a trial that put some of their most intimate and unflattering moments on public display, and they claimed former governor was now so deep in debt that he would be forced to sell his family home. Even without going to jail, they argued, McDonnell and his family had “already suffered tremendously” during a public corruption trial that put some of their most intimate and unflattering moments on public display. They claimed that the former governor is so deep in debt that he would be forced to sell his family home, adding that throwing him in prison would be a “severely disproportionate punishment” for the crimes of which he was convicted.
Even without going to jail, they argued, McDonnell had paid a significant price, and forcing him to spend any time behind bars would be a “severely disproportionate punishment” for the crimes of which he is convicted.
“No elected official would want to live through the last year of Mr. McDonnell’s life,” defense attorneys wrote. “Indeed, every indication is that the Government’s message was delivered loud and clear.”“No elected official would want to live through the last year of Mr. McDonnell’s life,” defense attorneys wrote. “Indeed, every indication is that the Government’s message was delivered loud and clear.”
The request filed Tuesday in federal district court in Richmond is, by all accounts, a long shot. The U.S. probation office, whose calculation goes a long way to shaping sentences in the federal system, recommended initially that McDonnell spend somewhere between 10 years and a month and 12 years and seven months behind bars. McDonnell’s defense attorneys wrote that they believed that calculation was “patently unfair” and a range of two years and nine months to three years and five months was a more appropriate guideline calculation. For their part, prosecutors fired back that the probation office’s recommended sentence of between 10 years and a month and 12 years and seven months would be appropriate for someone who wielded enormous influence and chose to abuse it.
But even that, they argued, was too severe a penalty for the former governor. “He understood the power and trust given to elected officials and that corruption benefits the few at the expense of the many,” prosecutors wrote. “Despite the advantages of his family upbringing and educational opportunities, the defendant chose to violate the trust of the Commonwealth’s citizens to line his pockets.”
“[A] variant sentence of probation with full-time, rigorous community service of 6,000 hours best serves the goals of justice, fairness, and mercy in this case,” defense attorneys wrote. The dueling requests filed Tuesday in federal district court in Richmond are both sides’ first formal pitches to Spencer about what penalty would serve as justice in the high-profile case. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were convicted in September of public corruption for lending the prestige of the governor’s office to Richmond businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr. in exchange for $177,000 in loans, vacations and luxury goods.
As of about 4:30 p.m., prosecutors had yet to make their own sentencing recommendation to Spencer, though they are expected to do so later Tuesday and ask for a term within the probation office’s recommended range. The former governor is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 6, and his wife is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 20. The parties have not yet formally begun debating her term.
McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were convicted in September of public corruption for lending the prestige of the governor’s office to Richmond businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr. in exchange for $177,000 in loans, vacations and luxury goods. The former governor is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6, and his wife is scheduled to be sentenced on February 20. The parties have not yet formally begun debating her term. People who know the McDonnells say they have been living apart since the trial.
Jacob Frenkel, a former federal prosecutor who now does white collar criminal defense work, said Spencer is highly unlikely to sentence McDonnell to only a few years worth of community service, but is unsurprising that his attorneys would request such a penalty. Frenkel said that at a minimum, Spencer will want his sentence to steer other politicians away from public corruption, and a term of mere probation would probably not send the message he intends. By all accounts, Spencer seems far more likely to side with prosecutors than defense attorneys, as experts say he is generally known to follow the probation office’s recommendation. But McDonnell’s team nonetheless mounted a vigorous pushback, arguing that the probation office’s calculation was “patently unfair.” The guideline range, they said, should have been two years and nine months to three years and five months — although even that, they argued, would be too harsh a sentence.
“At the end of the football game, the quarterback will always throw the Hail Mary with the hope that it will be caught in the end zone,” Frenkel said. “Is it realistic?. . .Not really, because, again, one of the fundamental criteria for a sentencing judge is the deterrent effect of the sentence.” McDonnell defense attorney Henry Asbill and U.S. Attorney Dana Boente declined to comment for this article.
McDonnell’s request for a sentence of only probation read like a glowing autobiography, tracing the governor’s life from the time he was born in Philadelphia, Pa., to now. It described the former governor’s service in the Army, his many accomplishments during his political career, and his particular interest in helping to “restore civil rights for convicted felons.” It notes he has a granddaughter on the way next month. The requests from each side were far different in tone and length. The prosecutors’ memo was relatively brief, focusing largely on the technical aspects of the probation office’s recommendation and noting McDonnell’s sense of entitlement and failure to show remorse.
Attached to the request were 440 letters from supporters who seemed to encounter McDonnell in every phase of his life — including college and high school friends, fellow service members, former staffers and all five of his children. U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) wrote on the governor’s behalf, saying he did not question the jury’s verdict but wanted the court to know of McDonnell’s mercy to convicted felons during his time as governor. Prosecutors wrote that McDonnell’s crimes “have only further undermined public confidence in the integrity of public officials” and urged the judge to send a message to others in positions of power that such conduct is not acceptable.
McDonnell’s attorneys, interestingly, seemed to continue to quibble with the prosecution’s case — even as they stressed that the former governor had owned up to his mistakes. On one hand, McDonnell’s attorneys wrote that they were “aware of no instance of the Government successfully prosecuting any public official on the basis of access-oriented acts like those upon which Mr. McDonnell’s conviction was based.” McDonnell’s sentencing memorandum, by contrast, spun a winding narrative, tracing the former governor’s life from the time of his birth in Philadelphia to now. It described, without sparing any details, the former governor’s service in the Army and his many accomplishments during his political career in its argument that a prison sentence would remove a valuable asset from society.
But on the other hand, they wrote that McDonnell “accepts full responsibility for his poor decision to accept travel, golf, and loans from Mr. Williams” — a decision they termed a “total aberration in what was by all accounts a successful and honorable career.” They asked the judge to consider McDonnell’s conviction “in the context of the culture of Virginia politics, in which numerous state officials routinely took advantage of these laws and accepted luxury vacations, rounds of golf, sports tickets, dinners, and other things of value from donors and wealthy hangers-on.” Attached to the defense’s request were 440 letters from supporters from all facets of McDonnell’s life, including college and high school friends, fellow service members, former staffers and all five of his children. Jeanine Zubowsky, one of McDonnell’s daughters, asked the judge to show mercy on her father, noting that she has a child due next month.
If the judge were to agree to sentence McDonnell to community service, the former governor’s defense attorneys proposed a few specific places where his might work. They wrote that Operation Blessing International, a Christian humanitarian organization, had agreed that McDonnell could serve as a “manager” of its food distribution facility in Bristol, Va., where he would manage shipments and inventory, run a forklift and help with loading and delivering supplies. “I plead that whatever sentence you choose, that it will be lenient so that he may be able to get to know his first grandchild that arrives in January,” Zubowsky wrote.
Operation Blessing, notably, was founded by Virginia Beach televangelist Pat Robertson, and he continues to sit on the organization’s board of directors. The controversial religious leader has been a longtime friend and political ally of McDonnell. McDonnell received a graduate degree from what is now called Regent University, the Christian-based college founded by Robertson. Prominent businessman like Dominion CEO Thomas F. Farrell II, a high school classmate of McDonnell’s, and Norfolk Southern CEO Charles Moorman, also chimed in on the governor’s behalf. So did Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.), who wrote that he did not question the jury’s verdict but wanted the court to know about McDonnell’s efforts to restore voting rights to convicted felons.
Robertson also donated more than $100,000 to McDonnell’s political campaigns and attended his 2010 inauguration as governor. On his program in August, Robertson accused the Department of Justice of pursuing a political prosecution of McDonnell, claiming Attorney General Eric Holder was “behind all this stuff.” McDonnell’s attorneys, interestingly, seemed to continue to quibble with the prosecution’s case — even as they stressed that the former governor had owned up to his mistakes.
“It’s one more reason why this administration is just destroying this nation and destroying its own credibility,” Robertson said. They also wrote that they were “aware of no instance of the Government successfully prosecuting any public official on the basis of access-oriented acts like those upon which Mr. McDonnell’s conviction was based.” But they also wrote that the former governor “accepts full responsibility for his poor decision to accept travel, golf, and loans from Mr. Williams” — a decision they termed a “total aberration in what was by all accounts a successful and honorable career.”
Defense attorneys also wrote that the Bishop of Richmond supported a plan to have McDonnell serve as the “Far Southwest Regional Coordinator” for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. There, they wrote, McDonnell would coordinate prison ministry workshops, do outreach to migrant workers and perhaps some grant writing and data collection. They asked the judge to consider McDonnell’s conviction “in the context of the culture of Virginia politics, in which numerous state officials routinely took advantage of these laws and accepted luxury vacations, rounds of golf, sports tickets, dinners, and other things of value from donors and wealthy hangers-on.”
Frenkel said the governor’s best chance to win a community service sentence is to show the court a concrete, organized plan that could serve as a substitute for prison. He said that while he still does not expect such a lenient penalty, he also doubts Spencer will impose a sentence of more than a decade. Such a term could be painful for McDonnell in more ways than one. The former governor’s defense attorneys also attached to their filing several proposals from organizations for which McDonnell might perform his community service over the next three years. Operation Blessing International, a Christian humanitarian organization, wrote that McDonnell could serve as a “manager” of its food distribution facility in Bristol, where he would oversee shipments and inventory, run a forklift, and help with loading and delivering supplies.
Federal bureau of prison procedures call for any male inmate with more than a decade left on his sentence to serve time in a low security prison — as opposed to a minimum security facility — unless a specific waiver is given. Minimum security prisons come with limited or no fencing, fewer guards and dormitory housing. Low security prisons come with double fenced perimeters and many more guards. The Catholic Diocese of Richmond said that McDonnell could serve as its “Far Southwest Regional Coordinator,” reaching out to migrant workers and perhaps helping to write grants and collect data. More than one organization advocated service in Haiti, including the University of Notre Dame, where McDonnell went to college.
“In light of the scope of Haiti’s need and Mr. McDonnell’s many years of public service and experience in public policy and reform, we believe that Mr. McDonnell can be far more valuable to society as a dedicated volunteer rather than serving a prison sentence,” wrote Anthony J. D’Agostino, the associate director for Haitian Catholic Education Initiatives at the university.
McDonnell’s attorneys stressed that he would not be paid for such work, even though it would be full time. Prosecutors noted in their filing that as of June 2014 — before the weeks-long trial — the former governor owed more than $4.4 million to four law firms, not including the firm of one of his two lead attorneys.
Those bills, they said, had given them reason to drop their objection to the probation office’s assessment that McDonnell was unable to pay a fine.