William J. Jefferson Guilty 11 Times; Sentencing Recommendation

Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: The jury's decision has now confirmed what the voters in Louisiana knew in their gut at the last election when they ousted indicted ten term (20 years) Democratic Rep. William J. Jefferson. Today, the jury found Jefferson guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty guilty, guilty, guilty guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty! The voters of Louisiana had tolerated Jefferson far too long as their congressman and those of us "North of the border" in Arkansas appreciated the Louisiana voters replacing him even before today's jury decision.

After five days of deliberation, the jury of eight women and four men decided that Jefferson was indeed a criminal and found him guilty of 11 public-corruption charges, including bribery, money laundering and racketeering. Jefferson is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 30. If this had been a some local drug induced criminal, they would have been sentenced on their way to the slammer, but the feds have more work to do and evidently, sentencing a former congressman takes a little longer.

Jefferson will be back at the courthouse Thursday where prosecutors will seek to seize more than $450,000 in assets that the government says are the proceeds of his corruption schemes. The same jury will decide the forfeiture issue and therefore has not been free to talk about the verdict. Having convicted Jefferson of 11 counts, I hope the jury will swiftly support seizing Jefferson's assets. Although not one of the charges, maybe Jefferson should have been found guilty of treason for breaking his Oath to the U.S. Constitution while serving as a Congressman.

The charges on which Jefferson was convicted could carry up to 150 years in prison, but federal sentencing guidelines make that unlikely. Prosecutors indicated that Jefferson could be sentenced to more than 20 years in prison, but the Jefferson's defense team will seek a lighter penalty. A former U.S. congressman who is guilty of 11 counts of public-corruption charges, including bribery, money laundering and racketeering while a congressman seems to me to deserve at least a minimum of 22 years in prison.

However, since I am a taxpayer and am tired of paying for useless program, I am suggesting a more "favorable sentencing for the taxpayers." After all, we continue to suffer by paying the bills after the usual sentencing. I suggest that Jefferson should be required to pay a fine of $22 million dollars, plus all court and federal prosecution costs, plus all monitoring costs while during a 10 years probation period and doing 5 years of public service all of which must be menial and not allow him to have public access to the elderly, children or elected or former elected officials. This sentence would save the taxpayers the cost of incarcerating Jefferson in a special prison with special treatment and protection as a former congressman. It would also help the taxpayers reclaim some of his congressional retirement which he draws for his 20 year in Congress where he leverage his position to get bribes. Oh well, we can dream of real justice for Mr. William Jefferson!

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