Mercy for McDonnell The former Virginia governor gets two years in prison, a lighter sentence than many expected.

RICHMOND, Va. — Bob McDonnell pleaded with the court for mercy. In the end, the judge showed him some.

The former Virginia governor was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison, followed by two years of probation, after being convicted of multiple counts of public corruption. The sentence was significantly less than what prosecutors had requested and what most observers had expected, and the Republican’s supporters were visibly shocked and delighted. People who had braced themselves for a prison sentence of closer to 10 years, and had sobbed throughout the proceedings, turned to one another with looks of stunned relief when the decision came down.


But the one-time rising GOP star — who called himself a “humbled man” and even asked Judge James R. Spencer to show mercy on his estranged wife, Maureen, when she is sentenced in the same case next month — made clear afterward that he would appeal the original guilty verdicts.

“I want to thank the court and Judge Spencer for the mercy he dispensed to me today,” McDonnell told reporters in a brief statement outside the courthouse. “I also want to say that I disagree with the verdict that was rendered by the jury in this case and we intend to file our appeal to the United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.”

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McDonnell, who was once considered a potential presidential candidate, is expected to report for his sentence by 2 p.m. on Feb. 9. But his lawyers, who had pushed for 6,000 hours of community service instead of incarceration, hope to keep him out of prison as they pursue an appeal. Still, the outcome Tuesday was far better for McDonnell than had been expected.

The former governor and his wife were convicted of corruption charges in September, following an emotional trial filled with testimony about their rocky marriage. Bob McDonnell was convicted by a jury on 11 charges, while his wife was convicted on eight. The McDonnells were found guilty of seeking to trade official favors and the prestige of the governor’s office for more than $165,000 worth of gifts and loans from Richmond-area businessman Jonnie Williams.

According to nonbinding federal sentencing guidelines, McDonnell should have served roughly 10 to 12 years in prison, a recommendation the prosecution supported.

But Spencer, after accounting for objections raised by the defense, suggested early in the day Tuesday that those guidelines were too harsh and that, at the most, McDonnell should face eight years in prison. As he later handed down the even more lenient sentence, the judge wondered aloud why McDonnell would “take these kinds of chances. I don’t know.”

“This entire case has been tragic from beginning to end,” Spencer, a respected Ronald Reagan appointee, said as he laid out the factors that ultimately drove his decision.

Among them: the jury’s guilty verdict; a sense that McDonnell had a fair trial with excellent representation; and apparent irritation with what Spencer characterized as the defense’s habit of shifting blame — in particular to Maureen McDonnell, whom the defense cast as the mentally unbalanced seeker of gifts and money.

But the judge also weighed about 450 letters that poured in on McDonnell’s behalf, attesting to his character and his desire to serve. Letter after letter specifically mentioned McDonnell’s willingness to comfort grieving people. As arguments drew to a close Tuesday, defense lawyer Henry Asbill read aloud a slew of the letters, appearing to choke up as he did so. Others in the audience clutched Kleenex, closed their eyes or wept audibly.

“The overall view of the defendant” that emerged in those letters, the judge said, is that “he’s a good, decent man. He’s done a lot of good. There’s no reason to doubt this.”

Spencer, who served in the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps himself, also said he valued McDonnell’s military service and expressed “great sympathy” for the ex-governor’s family.

McDonnell sat stone-faced and looked straight ahead as Spencer described his thought process. At other times throughout the day, McDonnell had his head propped up by a clenched fist, or resting in the palms of his hands.

His wife, whose presence in the court Tuesday was something of a surprise to many, sat with other family members toward the front of the courtroom. During a lighter moment, she blew a kiss to some friends in the room.

Throughout the trial, McDonnell’s defense team cast Maureen McDonnell as a troubled woman in a troubled marriage, alleging that she had a “crush” on Williams and suggesting that she orchestrated the gift-seeking. The defense argued that Maureen McDonnell and her husband were barely speaking, much less colluding in a conspiracy during their time in the governor’s mansion from 2010 to 2014.

McDonnell himself testified that his marriage was falling apart, noting that he no longer lived with his wife. And in letters asking the judge to be lenient in his sentencing, two of McDonnell’s daughters said that descriptions of their mother as being mentally imbalanced were a “reality.”

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The effort to shift the blame onto Maureen McDonnell appeared driven in part by the fact that she was not the elected official in the case, and thus could be held to lower standards. But Spencer did not care for the defense’s attempts to shift the blame onto Maureen McDonnell, calling it “delusional.”

On Tuesday, the former governor asked the judge to show his wife mercy. Her sentencing is set for Feb. 20.

“I can’t fathom any deeper humiliation for me and my family,” he said, adding that he holds himself “fully accountable for all the words, all the actions I took as governor … I acknowledge I’m a sinner with many, many human frailties.”

The trial last summer, which lasted several weeks, zeroed in on detailed descriptions of the lavish gifts the couple and their children received, from a Rolex watch to ritzy vacations to a New York shopping spree.

McDonnell ultimately returned the gifts and he maintained that he never delivered official favors to Williams, but the jury was unconvinced.

During the trial, the prosecution trained its focus on the McDonnell family’s financial problems and on his extensive communications with Williams. On Tuesday, the government stressed that McDonnell’s sentence should be a warning to other politicians.

“This is an opportunity to send a message,” said lead prosecutor Michael Dry, calling that the “bottom line” and arguing that good behavior should be the norm for politicians, rather than a license to get away with “bribery.”

Williams testified on behalf of the prosecution after getting immunity. That was referred to disapprovingly on Tuesday by former Democratic Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, who appeared as a character witness on McDonnell’s behalf.

“The progenitor walks away clean,” Wilder said as he was cross-examined, an apparent jab at Williams, to cheers from the courtroom.

Wilder also suggested that McDonnell had suffered especially deeply because his presidential dreams were dashed and his reputation ruined. “He wouldn’t have been on anyone’s shortlist for vice president,” Wilder said. “He would have been on the short list for president. … He’s punished indelibly.”