Former Virginia GOP Gov. Bob McDonnell was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer to two years in prison this afternoon for accepting dozens of gifts and loans from a businessman trying to get help from the state for a line of questionable health supplements. McDonnell was the first Virginia governor ever to be charged with a serious crime, and likely will be the first to go to jail.
In September of 2014, a jury found McDonnell guilty of 11 public corruption charges involving $177,000 in gifts/loans from Florida health supplement salesman Jonnie R. Williams to him, his wife and his children. They included vacations, the use of a Ferrari, tens of thousands of dollars in wedding presents for two of their daughters.
McDonnell's wife, Maureen, who had a close friendship with Williams, was also convicted in the case and she will be sentenced next month.
The McDonnells have been living mostly apart since before the trial, and part of their defense was that they could not have conspired together to defraud the state because their marriage was irreparably broken. The jury, which was shown pictures of the couple holding hands on their way to pretrial hearings, didn't buy it.
Here is the story reported by the Richmond, Virginbia local paaper:
http://www.richmond.com/...