Immortal Technique
05-15-2011, 07:03 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj0efRI1yh0
Airing Date May.15, 2011
A former state senator was sentenced in federal district court here on Friday to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty last year to obstruction of justice and tax evasion.
The former senator, Vincent L. Leibell III, a Republican from Putnam County, had faced 18 to 24 months in prison, based on sentencing guidelines. But Mr. Leibell's lawyer, David L. Lewis, asked the judge to take into account Mr. Leibell's "life of public service" and urged him to consider a "non-guideline" sentence, like allowing Mr. Leibell, 64, to do community service, "in which he publicly has to restore the faith in the people he has betrayed."
"We don't have public stocks anymore, where he can stand with his head and arms in stocks," Mr. Lewis said, trying to convince the judge that Mr. Leibell's crime would be forgotten in jail, but that doing some sort of "social restitution" would be more humiliating for Mr. Leibell and would offer a broader, more public lesson.
Perry A. Carbone, one of the assistant United States attorneys prosecuting the case, pressed for the full 24 months.
"Now it's time for him to pay his debt," Mr. Carbone said.
Referring to a four-page letter Mr. Leibell sent to the judge offering to serve as a diplomat to the Middle East instead of a prison term, Mr. Carbone added that Mr. Leibell was "young enough and healthy enough" to serve his sentence "with time left over to go to Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Beirut."
Mr. Lewis also mentioned the letter, which he said had caused Mr. Leibell "a tremendous amount of derision and mockery," but said that his client was not looking for some "cushy" posting; rather, he was motivated by a desire to serve his country.
Mr. Leibell opted not to speak on his own behalf, but throughout the sentencing, Judge Warren W. Eginton seemed notably impressed with Mr. Lewis's presentation, telling him several times that his case was "well presented" and that Mr. Leibell was being "well served."
After the sentencing, Mr. Leibell, who served 28 years in the State Assembly and then in the State Senate, walked silently to the back of the courtroom and hugged his wife. Minutes later, they walked out of the courthouse and into a waiting black S.U.V.
Airing Date May.15, 2011
A former state senator was sentenced in federal district court here on Friday to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty last year to obstruction of justice and tax evasion.
The former senator, Vincent L. Leibell III, a Republican from Putnam County, had faced 18 to 24 months in prison, based on sentencing guidelines. But Mr. Leibell's lawyer, David L. Lewis, asked the judge to take into account Mr. Leibell's "life of public service" and urged him to consider a "non-guideline" sentence, like allowing Mr. Leibell, 64, to do community service, "in which he publicly has to restore the faith in the people he has betrayed."
"We don't have public stocks anymore, where he can stand with his head and arms in stocks," Mr. Lewis said, trying to convince the judge that Mr. Leibell's crime would be forgotten in jail, but that doing some sort of "social restitution" would be more humiliating for Mr. Leibell and would offer a broader, more public lesson.
Perry A. Carbone, one of the assistant United States attorneys prosecuting the case, pressed for the full 24 months.
"Now it's time for him to pay his debt," Mr. Carbone said.
Referring to a four-page letter Mr. Leibell sent to the judge offering to serve as a diplomat to the Middle East instead of a prison term, Mr. Carbone added that Mr. Leibell was "young enough and healthy enough" to serve his sentence "with time left over to go to Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Beirut."
Mr. Lewis also mentioned the letter, which he said had caused Mr. Leibell "a tremendous amount of derision and mockery," but said that his client was not looking for some "cushy" posting; rather, he was motivated by a desire to serve his country.
Mr. Leibell opted not to speak on his own behalf, but throughout the sentencing, Judge Warren W. Eginton seemed notably impressed with Mr. Lewis's presentation, telling him several times that his case was "well presented" and that Mr. Leibell was being "well served."
After the sentencing, Mr. Leibell, who served 28 years in the State Assembly and then in the State Senate, walked silently to the back of the courtroom and hugged his wife. Minutes later, they walked out of the courthouse and into a waiting black S.U.V.