A judge’s decision to reject a request to reconsider former Bush administration official Scott Bloch’s guilty plea because he didn’t know he’d have to spend a minimum of a month behind bars is another indication the former head of the Office of Special Counsel is likely headed to prison. Bloch is due in federal court in D.C. for a sentencing hearing at 4 p.m. today.
Bloch plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of contempt of Congress in connection with his use of ‘Geeks On Call’ to scrub his government computer while he was under investigation.
Federal prosecutors and Bloch’s legal team reached an agreement that would have kept Bloch out of prison, but a judge ruled that the law required a mandatory minimum sentence of one month in the penitentiary. Bloch appealed to withdraw his guilty and was supported by the government, but the judge wouldn’t have it. Bloch’s team asked the judge to reconsider with the support of the Justice Department, but the judge rejected that motion in an order late Tuesday night.
“Counsel’s advice that the court was not likely to impose the mandatory minimum sentence simply because two other judges apparently had not done so is not germane to any issue now before the court,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson wrote.
Read the ruling here.
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
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