Richmond, Va. – The U.S. Probation Office has recommended former governor Bob McDonnell spend at least 10 years and one month in prison and no more than 12 years and 7 months, according to the Washington Post.
The recommendations are preliminary, and even if finalized U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer is not required to follow them.
McDonnell is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 6. His wife Maureen is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 20, and her guideline range is expected to be lower than her husband’s.
“It’s of critical importance,” said white collar criminal defense attorney Scott Fredericksen. “The fact is, the vast majority of times, courts follow those recommendations closely.”
To be sure, the matter is far from settled. Calculating an appropriate range of sentences in the federal system is a complicated, mathematical process that takes into account a variety of factors, including the type of crime that was committed, the defendant’s role in that crime and the amount of the loss. A probation officer is tasked with analyzing each factor objectively, then using the federal sentencing guidelines to calculate an appropriate range of penalties.
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In the Eastern District of Virginia, where McDonnell is being sentenced, judges imposed sentences within the guideline range more than 70 percent of the time last fiscal year, according to data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. They imposed sentences below the guideline range without a request from prosecutors to do so in about 21 percent of cases.
