NEWARK -- Facing two years in prison for the shakedown of United Airlines in a bizarre scheme to get a more convenient direct flight to his South Carolina getaway home, former Port Authority chairman David Samson found a soft landing Monday.

U.S. District Judge Jose Linares stunned federal prosecutors by sentencing Samson to a year of home confinement, four years of probation and 3,600 hours of community service in his admitted strong-arming of the airline.

The 77-year-old former New Jersey attorney general will also be required to pay a $100,000 fine and wear a location-monitoring device.

"I did something wrong. I violated the law. I deeply regret it. I am trying to live my life to the highest moral standards," Samson said in court, apologizing to his family his friends and the public. "I violated the law. I deeply regret it."

Linares did not minimize Samson's guilt.

"This crime was ridiculous. It was a complete abuse of power. It was corruption that is not to be tolerated," said the judge.

But at the same time, he said he took into account Samson's lifetime of public service and good deeds, his age and poor health, as well as more than 40 letters of support from friends, colleagues, family members and public officials --including former Gov. James McGreevey, three former state attorneys general and a retired federal judge.

The judge also cited the punitive nature of Samson losing his law license and seeing his name stripped from the law firm he founded. He said the loss of reputation was not insubstantial.

"He was someone who knew the law and knew the consequences of what he was doing," Linares told the court. "But we don't look at one factor and ignore all the others."

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, whose office had urged the judge to impose a 24-month sentence, noted the incongruity of a man who pleaded guilty to a scheme that allowed him to get home quicker to his country estate, and then being sentenced to spend a year in that very house.

"It is a less severe sanction than we wanted," Fishman remarked following the sentencing in federal court in Newark.

The Chairman's flight

Samson pleaded guilty to using his power as Port Authority chairman to coerce one of the nation's largest airlines to accommodate his request for the non-stop flight between Newark Liberty and Columbia, S.C., by holding up the carrier's efforts to build a new maintenance hanger at Newark.

United is the largest carrier at Newark Liberty, which is operated by the Port Authority.

The wide-body aircraft maintenance hangar United ultimately built at Newark Liberty. (Ed Murray | Star-Ledger file photo)

At issue was Samson's desire for United to resume a convenient flight to get him to his estate in Aiken, S.C., an opulent home decorated in rich antiques that he called "Rest Period." Long before becoming Port Authority chairman, he often would travel to South Carolina on a Continental Airlines' non-stop route between Newark Airport and Columbia, just a short drive to Aiken.

But Continental, which later merged with United Airlines, discontinued the Newark/Columbia route for business reasons in 2009, forcing Samson to Charlotte in North Carolina, making for a far longer drive to Aiken.

Samson, a close friend and mentor to Gov. Chris Christie, was appointed by the governor in 2011 as chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and within weeks of his appointment, he began pressing United Airlines to reinstate the flight to Columbia Metropolitan Airport, according to federal prosecutors.

He admitted that he "let it be known that the flight...made it more convenient" for him to get to Aiken during a dinner with United CEO Jeff Smisek. He admitted he removed a request by United from the Port Authority's agenda to build the proposed maintenance hangar after being told the airline was not going to reinstate the Newark to South Carolina route.

Ultimately United acquiesced to the chairman's demand and the route was brought back after the hanger project was approved.

Federal prosecutors told the judge that because the flight was created solely for Samson's convenience, United allowed him chose the days he preferred to travel.

The route came to be known as "the Chairman's flight."

The flight was cancelled within days after Samson resigned as Port Authority chairman in March 2014. United said it lost approximately $945,000 before it was grounded.

Samson's attorneys, citing health problems that include prostate cancer and tremors that caused him to shake visibly during the court hearing, asked that Samson be sentenced to probation and community service.

"This is not the classic case of greed motivating someone to break the law," said attorney Michael Chertoff. Instead, he called it "a test of wills" between Samson and United executives who he said would not immediately respond to his questions about why the South Carolina flight was cancelled in the first place.

"It's not about a deliberate scheme but something that developed over a period of time and a line was crossed," he said.

But federal prosecutors urged Linares to send Linares to prison, arguing that the former chairman abused his power "in a stunning and audacious manner."

Assistant U.S. attorney Vikas Khanna said anything other than a prison term would not be a just sentence.

"This crime was not just a brief moment; a brief yielding to temptation," he told the court. "This was a plan. It was premeditated. It was carried out over a period of months."

The charges against Samson were an offshoot of a nearly 16-month federal investigation that led to criminal charges against two other members Christie's inner circle in connection with the 2013 toll lane shutdowns at the George Washington Bridge that served as an act of political retribution against the mayor of Fort Lee after he decline to endorse Christie for re-election.

Chairman of the Port Authority when the so-called "Bridgegate" scandal broke, Samson was never charged with any wrongdoing in connection with the lane closures. However, his name repeatedly came up as the story unfolded and he was charged last year with bribery in connection with his push for the South Carolina flight.

United was not criminally charged in the case, but agreed to pay a fine of $2.25 million and pledged to institute "substantial reforms" to its compliance program.

The airline's own internal investigation led to the ouster of Smisek and two other senior executives. None were charged in the case, although a criminal complaint was filed against Jamie Fox, a former Port Authority official and a friend of Samson then working as a consultant for United.

Fox, who served as state transportation commissioner under Christie, was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery for allegedly helping Samson put pressure on United. However, the federal case against him was held in limbo because of serious health problems that led to his death last month.

Separately, United also agreed to pay $2.4 million to settle civil charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission after regulators charged that United had "circumvented its standard process for initiating new routes," and found that no corporate record "accurately and fairly reflected the authorization to approve the money-losing flight route."

The governor, following the sentencing, called it "a sad day" for Samson and his family and friends.

"The court has ruled and this chapter is now behind us. David will now pay the price for his bad judgment," Christie said in a statement.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.