McDonnell (center) and his ex-Roanoker lawyer John Brownlee*. |
Both of them cried as the verdicts were read, as you would expect. This has been a fall of Shakespearean proportion for a man who was talked about as a vice presidential candidate only recently.
Here's the breakdown on the jury's decision, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch (here):
- On Count One, both McDonnells were convicted of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud.
- On counts two and three, both McDonnells were convicted of honest-services wire fraud.
- On count four, Bob McDonnell was convicted of honest-services wire fraud, but Maureen McDonnell was found not guilty.
- On count five, both McDonnells were convicted of conspiracy to obtain property under color of official right.
- On counts six through eight, both McDonnells were convicted of obtaining property under color of official right.
- On count nine, Bob McDonnell was convicted of obtaining property under color of official right, but Maureen McDonnell was found not guilty.
- On count 10, both McDonnells were convicted of obtaining property under color of official right.
- On count 11, Bob McDonnell was convicted of obtaining property under color of official right, but Maureen McDonnell was found not guilty.
- On count 12, Bob McDonnell was found not guilty of making a false statement on a financial document.
- On count 13 both McDonnells were found not guilty of making a false statement on a financial document.
- On count 14, Maureen McDonnell was found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding.
McDonnell's political career--and perhaps his marriage--is over and my guess is that even Liberty University will not want to continue to employ him (if he doesn't go to jail) in its Helms School of Government, unless he comes up with a class that would be more suitable to a convicted felon. And, of course, Liberty seems friendly with felons these days (see previous blog post).
(See blog post about Brownlee here.)
(Photo: watchdog.org.)
Ernie Bentley tried to post this comment, but my wall wouldn't let him in (sorry Ernie). My wall can be a hypervigilant asshole:
ReplyDeleteI too sympathize with the family, but they brought their problems upon themselves. Regardless of how lenient or harsh their sentences are, their public lives have been destroyed. As to the future: perfect fodder for self righteous Liberty U which overlooks it's own moral beliefs in order to add 'prominent' names to its roster to recruit naive students and ego centric donors.