By Larry O’Dell
Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. — Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell should be sentenced to three years of community service rather than prison for his federal corruption convictions, his attorneys said in court papers Tuesday.
McDonnell, a Republican who was once on the short list to be Mitt Romney’s vice presidential running mate, will be sentenced Jan. 6 for promoting a dietary supplement in exchange for more than $165,000 in gifts and loans. His wife, Maureen, also was convicted and will be sentenced Feb. 20.
“This offense is a total aberration in what was by all accounts a successful and honorable career,” McDonnell’s lawyers wrote. “Moreover, the conduct that led to this conviction is far outside the ‘heartland’ of public corruption cases. No public official has ever before been convicted of federal or state corruption charges on the basis of similar conduct.”
The attorneys said a sentence of “6,000 hours of full-time, rigorous, unpaid community service at a remote location served over three years” would be appropriate. That amount of hours would be about three years of working 40-hour weeks.
Prosecutors had not yet filed their sentencing recommendation, but McDonnell has said in court papers that he expects them to seek a stiff sentence.
McDonnell’s brief said the U.S. Probation Office has calculated a sentencing guideline range of about 10 years to a little less than 13 years. Defense lawyers wrote that a prison term of any length, “much less one of ten years or more,” would be too harsh and that community service “best serves the goals of justice, fairness, and mercy in this case.”
McDonnell’s attorneys are also challenging the guideline calculations, arguing that the range should be 33 months to 41 months.
Sentencing guidelines are calculated based on a number of factors, including the defendant’s background and the seriousness of the offenses. Attorneys can challenge the guidelines and argue for a sentence lower or higher than the recommended range. Judges usually issue a sentence within the range, but are not bound it.
Jeff Bellin, a professor at the College of William and Mary Law School and a former federal prosecutor, said it is unlikely U.S. District Judge James Spencer will spare McDonnell prison time.
“This is someone who is looking at many years in prison,” Bellin said. “The judge would have to have a pretty good explanation why the former governor is getting such favorable treatment.”
Defense lawyers said several charitable and religious organizations have offered a volunteer position to McDonnell if Spencer agrees to community service. They specifically mentioned two: Operation Blessing International and the Catholic Diocese of Richmond.
Operation Blessing offered McDonnell jobs heading its hunger relief program in Appalachia or working at its orphanage and fish farm in Haiti.
“As with his volunteering during Hurricane Katrina, Bob has shown an authentic willingness to serve others no matter how difficult the task,” group president Bill Horan said in a statement.
Virginia Beach-based Operation Blessing was founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson. McDonnell is a graduate of Robertson’s Regent University law school. Robertson is one of 440 people who wrote letters supporting McDonnell and filed with the court as an appendix to the sentencing brief.
The Catholic Diocese offered to make McDonnell its regional coordinator in southwest Virginia, where he would coordinate prison ministry workshops and migrant worker outreach, defense attorneys said.