Judge: Wilkes Is A LiarEven if Brent Wilkes can breathe a sigh of relief that he did not get the 25-year sentence that prosecutors were gunning for, it was far from a good day.
The judge sent Wilkes to prison immediately, because he could not be trusted to remain free while his appeal of the verdict was pending. That’s because, Judge Larry Burns wrote in his order (which you can read here), he “doubts Mr. Wilkes trustworthiness.”
For one thing, he lied on the stand when he said he didn’t bribe Cunningham, the judge wrote. And when he claimed not to have had anything to do with getting Cunningham a prostitute in Hawaii, “his testimony was utterly unbelievable and thoroughly contradicted by the weight of the evidence.”
What’s more, Judge Burns concluded that Wilkes had lied when he’d claimed that he was too broke to be able to afford a lawyer. Based on that representation, Burns had assigned him public defenders. “The Court finds Mr. Wilkes materially misrepresented his financial condition in an improper effort to obtain legal representation at the expense of the taxpayer.”
So it’s off to jail Brent Wilkes goes.