From Denny Walsh:
Julie Lee, the San Francisco political activist convicted of fraud and attempted witness tampering, was sentenced Tuesday in Sacramento federal court to a year and a day in prison.
In imposing the reduced penalty, U. S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton described the crime as "serious" and the sentencing as "difficult."
"Justice must be served, but it also must be tempered," he said.
Invited by the judge to address him before he passed sentence, Lee's gasping sobs made her words unintelligible.
The courtroom was packed with her supporters.
First Assistant U. S. Attorney Lawrence Brown sought a prison term of three years and 10 months, while defense attorneys Alan Ellis and Lidia Stiglich asked for probation.
Lee, 62, was ordered to surrender Nov. 4 to begin serving her sentence. Assuming she earns the maximum 54 days good time, she will be released around Sept. 10, 2009.
Karlton also ordered a $5,000 fine and three years of supervision by federal probation authorities after her release.
The judge held off ordering restitution until the state Department of Parks and Recreation, the victim of Lee's fraud, submitted a figure that the agency is able to support.
In July, a jury in Karlton's court found Lee guilty of supplying false information and trying to tamper with witnesses after learning she was the target of inquiries by state and federal investigators as to how she spent money from a Parks and Recreation grant.
Lee's nonprofit, the San Francisco Neighbors Resource Center, had received the $500,000 grant for planning and development of a community services center in the city's heavily Chinese American west side.
Prosecutors showed at trial that she laundered $125,000 of the funds through six intermediaries into Kevin Shelley's successful 2002 campaign for secretary of state. There is no evidence Shelley knew of the scheme.
"The political world needs to understand that, if the line is crossed, the offender will get caught and will receive an appropriate sentence," Brown told Karlton.
The judge said he is convinced Lee was striving for political influence.
Ellis, on the other hand, insisted her motive was getting the community center built, and she was counting on help from Shelley, then an assemblyman from the city's west side.
"I'm not sure we haven't said the same thing," Karlton remarked to Ellis.
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