Still a “slap on the wrist” from the perspective of most reading this, but former Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert received a 15 month sentence for the financial crimes related to his pay-offs to keep a former victim of his molestation quiet.
Hastert, who had a guidelines sentence of up to 6 months, was given three times the amount even recommended by the prosecution. It shows that the judge did take into consideration his underlying “uncharged conduct”, but it also shows that politically connected people get breaks that common citizens don’t.
We believe that FAC’s letter to the sentencing judge, which was referenced in a National Law Journal article, along with other letters, did have an influence.
For those who missed it, the following quote appeared in Politico:
“Today there are over eight hundred thousand individuals in the United States on sex offender registries. Some, like Mr. Hastert, committed heinous crimes against multiple victims, but others committed non-violent, one-time offenses, yet are being punished for life as a consequence of the harshly punitive laws that Mr. Hastert passed,” wrote Gail Colletta of the Florida Action Committee.
“As you consider the appropriate sentence for Mr. Hastert, I sincerely hope you will keep in mind the 800,000 other victims of Mr. Hastert’s, who are serving decades, if not a lifetime under ineffective and unduly harsh laws that were passed as a result of his hypocritical and self-serving actions,” Colletta added.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/dennis-hastert-tom-delay-letters-court-sentencing-222344#ixzz477Z84dAz
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