Judge Sends Jones to Slammer

A federal judge threw the book at Marion Jones today, sentencing the disgraced Olympian to 6 months in prison for lying about steroid use and participating in a check-fraud scam. Jones begged the judge not to separate her from her family, and prosecutors said they were okay with a zero-month sentence. Instead, the judge gave her the maximum sentence recommended in her plea deal.

Jones asked the judge to be “as merciful as a human being can be,” but her hopes of going free were dim. The judge had asked the lawyers if he could impose a sentence longer than the 6-month maximum suggested in her plea deal, or sentence her for the bank scam and drug lies separately. Both sides advised against that. (More Marion Jones stories.)