Tony Serra sentenced to Federal Prison

by elveta

Community

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Friday, Jul. 29, 2005 Friday, Jul. 29, 2005 at 7:57:45pm PDT

Seventy -year old Tony Serra, a renowned San Francisco Defense Attorney was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison today by a magistrate who praised his devotion to justice but said no one is above the law. Apparently Mr.. Serra had not complied with the federal income tax laws for at least two decades, i.e., as in not paying his taxes

U.S. Magistrate Joseph Spero agreed that Serra was a rarity - a lawyer who has spent his life representing the downtrodden, usually for free. This news resulted in a call from my repug friend. Tony Serra represented one of her sons in a drug charge. Serra got him off in the first trial, but the AG filed again resulting in his incarceration in Federal Prison, where he was able to obtain a college degree. The interesting thing from my repug friend's phone call was her belief that prison might not be the best thing in many cases. Her view: Why not let the non-violent offenders do community service. Why not indeed?