XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: drumroll@jerrybrownclown.com   
      
   State Sen. Roderick Wright was sentenced Friday to 90 days in   
   jail and fined $2,000, bringing to an end a four-year legal saga   
   revolving around eight counts of voter fraud that saw the   
   veteran South Bay Democrat go from respected lawmaker to   
   convicted criminal barred from holding public office.   
      
   Wright, 62, must also perform 1,500 hours of community service   
   and was placed on three years’ felony probation following his   
   conviction earlier this month on eight felony voter fraud   
   charges for lying about where he lived when he represented the   
   25th Assembly District from 2008 to 2012.   
      
   Wright contended that he lived in a modest Inglewood house he   
   had long owned in the district. Prosecutors successfully argued   
   he actually lived in a more luxurious home in neighboring   
   upscale Baldwin Hills.   
      
   “It doesn’t smell right now and it didn’t smell well to the jury   
   when they heard it,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen   
   Kennedy said.   
      
   “This is not what I call a victimless crime,” she added. “The   
   victim is the process, the lack of respect for the process.”   
      
   A jury took just two days to convict Wright in January of two   
   counts of perjury, one count of filing a false declaration of   
   candidacy and five counts of fraudulent voting in elections in   
   2008 and 2009.   
      
   Wright is scheduled to surrender to begin serving his jail   
   sentence Oct. 31, although his legal team indicated it will   
   appeal the sentence. Wright declined to provide comment outside   
   the courtroom.   
      
   Kennedy, who has presided over several high-profile public   
   corruption trials, said there was a “dishonesty” to career   
   politicians like Wright.   
      
   “There’s an arrogance that underlines the backdrop to this,” she   
   said. “(He believed) the law did not apply to him and it seems   
   to be a theme a lot of politicians have.   
      
   “The law applies to all of us and I don’t think in this case   
   Sen. Wright complied with the law.”   
      
   Prosecutors had sought a 180-day jail sentence, but Kennedy said   
   that was not warranted.   
      
   Deputy District Attorney Bjorn Dodd, who prosecuted the case,   
   said there had to be consequences for Wright’s actions.   
      
   “He has damaged the public image of politicians,” Dodd said. “He   
   got to serve six years in the state senate based on fraud ... He   
   trampled over our electoral process, played a game with it for   
   his convenience. He exhibited a sophisticated plan in skirting   
   these laws.”   
      
   The 1,500 hours of community service Kennedy imposed was 500   
   more than prosecutors sought.   
      
   South Bay Congresswoman Maxine Waters and fellow state Sen.   
   Holly Mitchell were among those who appeared in court Friday to   
   support Wright.   
      
   Wright’s attorney, Winston Kevin McKesson, said this case was “a   
   perversion of what the criminal justice system is supposed to be   
   about” and contended that his client, a cancer survivor with   
   arthritis, should not be jailed.   
      
   “There is not a hint he accepted a dime he was not entitled to,”   
   he said. “There is not a hint he put his interests above his   
   constituents.”   
      
   But Kennedy said the case was more a reflection of the “mad   
   scramble” that ensued when a career politician comes up against   
   term limits.   
      
   “Every time there is an election, there is a game of musical   
   chairs going on,” Kennedy said. “It’s an odd by-product of term   
   limits, but something we’ve seen again and again and again ...   
   This case is a perfect example of that.”   
      
   This will bring an end to Wright’s almost 20-year political   
   career that began in 1996 when he won election to the 48th   
   Senate District.   
      
   Although he’ll likely be expelled from the Senate, he currently   
   represents the 35th Senate District, in which he was   
   overwhelming elected to a four-year term in 2012 even while the   
   criminal charges hung over him.   
      
   http://www.dailynews.com/government-and-   
   politics/20140912/california-sen-rod-wright-sentenced-to-90-days-   
   in-jail-for-perjury   
      
        
      
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