Former state Sen. Leland Yee was sentenced by a federal judge in San Francisco today to five years in prison for a political corruption conviction.
Yee's campaign fundraiser, political consultant and former school board president Keith Jackson was also sentenced today to nine years in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer.
Yee, 67, and Jackson pleaded guilty before Breyer on July 1 to one count of participating in a racketeering conspiracy to solicit bribes in the form of campaign contributions in exchange for political favors by Yee.
They admitted that Yee received more than $40,000 in such payments, funneled to him by Jackson, and also admitted to plotting in a never-completed international arms deal in which weapons would be smuggled from the Philippines.
Breyer told Yee he was aware of his history of public service, but said, "I don't feel I can be lenient. The crimes you have committed were essentially an attack on a democratic institution."
Breyer said citizens must have trust that elected officials will act in the public interest and said, "You abused that trust."
Prosecutors had sought an eight-year sentence for Yee while defense attorneys asked for a sentence as low as four years and three months in prison.
Yee told Breyer, "I have taken full responsibility for my actions. I have accepted and understand the crimes I have committed."
Yee, a Democrat, formerly represented the western half of San Francisco and most of San Mateo County in the state Senate.
Yee and Jackson were arrested in March 2014 and have been free on bail since then.
They were among 29 people charged in a broad indictment that included both the political corruption charges against Yee and Jackson and organized-crime charges against Chinatown association leader Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, Jackson and others.
Breyer sentenced Jackson after pronouncing Yee's sentence. He told Jackson his activities were "akin to being a one-man crime wave."
"You were willing to do anything so long as there was some compensation and it didn't matter as to the nature of what it was," the judge said.
Jackson, who served as president of the San Francisco Unified School District board in 1997, was originally charged with additionally participating in the separate organized-crime racketeering conspiracy, selling guns without a license and joining in a never-completed murder-for-hire plan suggested by an undercover FBI agent.
Those charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement. Breyer said it was especially disturbing and "close to being unforgivable" that Jackson drew his son, Brandon Jackson, into criminal activities.
Brandon Jackson and sports agent Marlon Sullivan pleaded guilty on July 1 to participating in the organized-crime racketeering conspiracy.
They admitted to engaging in sales of guns and cocaine with undercover agents and to participating in the murder-for-hire plot. They are scheduled to be sentenced by Breyer later today.
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http://ift.tt/1RnzCKB California anti-gun senator Leland Yee to be sentenced for gun trafficking and racketeering charges via top scoring links : news http://ift.tt/1WJ15I1
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