Disgraced former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell’s hopes of avoiding prison time were boosted on Friday, when the US supreme court agreed to hear his appeal against corruption convictions.

McDonnell, once a high-flying Republican politician, and his wife, Maureen, were convicted in 2014 of taking $177,000 in gifts and loans from a businessman, Jonnie Williams, in a trial that lifted the lid on the couple’s financial and marital troubles.

McDonnell was sentenced to two years in prison, but the supreme court last year agreed that he would not have to report there until his appeals process was complete. The court is expected to hear the case in the coming months and rule by the end of June.

“I am very grateful to the US supreme court for its decision today to hear my case,” McDonnell said on Friday.

“I am innocent of these crimes and ask the court to reverse these convictions. I maintain my profound confidence in God’s grace to sustain me and my family, and thank my friends and supporters across the country for their faithfulness over these past three years.”

McDonnell, 61, an ex-army officer and state attorney general, served as Virginia governor from 2010 to 2014, a noted champion of family values. In 2010 he delivered the Republican reply to President Obama’s state of the union address. Two years later, he was rumoured to be in contention to be Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential running mate.

His fall from grace was swift. During a trial in Virginia’s state capital, Richmond, prosecutors described a lavish lifestyle the McDonnells enjoyed thanks to gifts and sweetheart loans from Williams that included holidays, designer clothing and shoes, a Rolex watch, $15,000 for their daughter’s wedding and more.

In an attempt to rebut the charges, McDonnell’s defence contended that he could not have conspired with his wife because their marriage had in fact collapsed.

Nevertheless McDonnell was convicted of 11 corruption counts including conspiracy, bribery and extortion for taking the loans and gifts in exchange for promoting a dietary supplement made by Williams’s company, Star Scientific.

The Richmond-based 4th US circuit court of appeals upheld McDonnell’s conviction last July, but his lawyers contend that in doing so it used an overly broad definition of bribery, penalising the type of actions that many elected officials carry out on behalf of constituents.

They argue that the former governor’s conduct did not constitute “official action” in exchange for a thing of value, as required for conviction under federal bribery law. The actions in question “were limited to routine political courtesies: arranging meetings, asking questions and attending events,” the lawyers wrote in court papers asking the supreme court to hear his appeal.

“This is the first time in our history that a public official has been convicted of corruption despite never agreeing to put a thumb on the scales of any government decision,” they wrote.

On behalf of the US government, solicitor-general Donald Verrilli responded in court papers that the convictions were based on “the unexceptionable proposition that a public official violates federal corruption statutes where, as here, he accepts personal benefits in exchange for his agreement to influence government matters”.

McDonnell is supported by both Democratic and Republican former officials including ex-attorney generals Michael Mukasey and John Ashcroft and Gregory Craig, former counsel to Obama. They wrote: “The law should not be broadened to subject government officials to the threat of prosecution for engaging in innocent conduct that occurs on a routine basis.”

The court declined to examine a second issue raised by McDonnell: whether the trial judge did enough to ensure jurors could remain impartial despite the coverage of the case in Virginia media.

McDonnell’s wife was found guilty of nine criminal counts and received a one-year sentence. Her appeal has been put on hold until the supreme court decides her husband’s case.

Prosecutors granted Williams immunity from prosecution, in exchange for his cooperation.