Wilkes Facing Possible 60 Year SentenceOuch. Federal probation officers have taken a look at Brent Wilkes’ case and decided that he deserves a 60 year sentence. And that’s not even the prosecutors’ recommendation. It’s hard to believe they could ask for more. It would be far and away the most severe sentence to be handed down in the recent spate of bribery prosecutions. Come to think of it, can any readers think of a more severe sentence ever handed down for government corruption?
Wilkes’ lawyer Mark Geragos knows this is bad news, and so has asked for extra time to prepare a counter-argument. Among the things he objects to: the recommendation was based on the assumption that all $90 million of Wilkes’ federal contracts were the result of bribing Duke Cunningham. Not so, says he (even though the jury convicted him on all thirteen counts). At least some of that he got fair and square. We look forward to him fighting that out.