Ex-Virginia Governor Likely to Get Minimum 10 Years

Bob McDonnell will be sentenced next month for corruption
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 13, 2014 6:26 AM CST
Ex-Virginia Gov. to Get Minimum 10 Years
Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell arrives at federal court in Richmond earlier this year.   (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Bob McDonnell is going to spend more than twice as long as a federal inmate than he did as governor of Virginia if the sentencing judge follows federal recommendations. The US Probation Office has recommended McDonnell—who was convicted of corruption in September—serve a minimum of 10 years and a month and a maximum of 12 years and 7 months, insiders tell the Washington Post. The judge who will sentence McDonnell on Jan. 6 is known for following the federal recommendations closely, the sources say.

McDonnell's wife, Maureen, who was also found guilty of accepting gifts and loans from businessman Jonnie Williams, will be sentenced in February and is expected to get a lighter sentence than her husband. The judge who will sentence McDonnell has allowed the former governor's lawyers to file a 50-page sentencing memorandum, 20 pages more than usually allowed, because they say they want to write about his "entire life," reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. McDonnell, the first Virginia governor ever convicted of a felony, stands to lose his government pension under a law he signed himself. (More Virginia stories.)

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