Just a quick bulletin: archconservative and Defender of the Faith Dinesh d’Souza has been spared jail time. According to The Smoking Gun, he’s just been sentenced to five years’ probation for violating campaign finance laws:
For the first eight months of his probation term, D’Souza will have to live in a “community confinement center” in San Diego, ordered Judge Richard Berman, who also fined D’Souza $30,000 and directed him to undergo “therapeutic counseling.” D’Souza will also have to perform one day per week of community service during his probation term. [JAC: He can otherwise go to work but has to sleep in the house.]
In remarks before announcing D’Souza’s sentence, Berman said that he did not believe the defendant had accepted responsibility for his crime. “I’m not sure, Mr. D’Souza, that you get it,” said Berman, who referred to D’Souza’s claim that he was a victim of selective prosecution.
There are more juicy details at The Smoking Gun, including allegations of abuse by his ex-wife, who wrote a letter to the judge that was read in court.
In truth, I thought he’d get some jail time, but according to lawyer Ken White at Popehat, this sentence is pretty much what is expected for d’Souza’s crime:
The sentence isn’t remarkable at all. Both sides agreed on the sentencing range under the United States Sentencing Guidelines. Though the recommended sentence under those guidelines was 10-16 months, the judge had discretion to go lower or higher. Probation with a term of home detention or “community confinement” is a very common approach to a nonviolent first offender with a low guideline range. For a 53-year-old with no record, this is roughly in the middle of the array results I would expect. In a case like this I would have shot for probation conditioned on home confinement but told the client that a short term in custody or a term in “community confinement” was a strong possibility. You may see it as unreasonably lenient or hash, but federal criminal practitioners won’t.
And so it goes. I don’t have strong feelings one way or the other.
h/t: Michael
Too bad the sentence didn’t include a “no more stupidity” provision.
Wouldn’t that constitute cruel and unusual punishment in this particular case?
There was a politician in CA that recently received jail time for some political shenanigans and he, along with everyone else, was shocked. Until these clowns get actual time in the cement hotel, they have no incentive to stop. Fines are nothing, since they can be paid by contributions. Then you’re rewarded, if you’re a Republican, by getting your own show on Fox, so life is good.
Boy, Am I glad to hear it! Holy people, but unholy alliance with mundane assets!
Wow, reading that D’Souza comes off as a psychopath. I thought he was just arrogant and maybe a bit narcissistic but this is full on psychopathy.
Yeah, the allegations in that letter from Dixie D’Souza were troubling, to put it mildly. I suspect Dinesh will be keeping his lawyers busy for quite some time to come.
A conviction and sentence on the books is a conviction and sentence on the books – gotta’ like that!
It’s kind of like Galileo and his house arrest. Except a real crime had been committed. And no Pope or Inquisition was involved. And no threat of torture implied. Oh, and not even the slightest hint of genius was involved in either the commission of the crime or the attendance at the trial. But other than that…
Am I ashamed at myself for laughing at D’Souza? Nope.
Attorney White is of course correct that this is an entirely unexceptional sentence, although it’s a bit unusual that to this day, so far as I can tell, Mr. D’Souza maintains that this was all a selective political prosecution. The judge even remarked on it. This is where I start seriously reconsidering both the rationales and purposes of our penal system.
Every prosecution is selective. As a prominent, public conservative, he should have expected no quarter.
Selective prosecution is just saying: Hey those guys over there are just as bad as I am! It’s not much of a defense! 🙂
And further: Most conservatives seem to lack a hypocrisy detector, at least with regard to their fellows.
Every time I heard Rush Limbaugh call someone else “arrogant” my hypocrisy meter imploded.
If D’Souza actually knew others who made the same illegal donations, he could have ratted them out in exchange for lesser punishment and the feeling of not being prosecuted selectively.
I’m not sure that our justice system’s many flaws are illuminated by the unproven accusations of a political pugilist mounting a criminal defense. In the sentencing hearing, Judge Berman mentioned the selective prosecution claims not because he thought they had merit, but rather because they were symptomatic of D’Souza’s desire to “deflect and minimize the significance of the crimes and his behavior.”
It’s entirely possible there was a miscarriage of justice here. I haven’t read of any evidence to that effect, though.
Perhaps the light sentence was due to the glowing recommendation of D’Souza as a fine, solid and honest citizen sent to the judge by his friend Michael Shermer. It’s online for those of you that have a strong stomach.
I knew somebody was going to say this was due to Shermer. Look, lay off that topic in this thread, for it’s just going to ignite a flame war, which was clearly your intention. If you troll one more time like this, you’ll be gone.
Yes, let’s ignore what the experienced US attorney and ex-prosecutor has to say about it and just go with your favorite conspiracy theory du jour.
cement hotel – good one
‘ . . . directed him to undergo “therapeutic counseling.” ‘
I gather the therapist is from an approved list, and the therapy is for a disorder identified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. (Or not?) Does the judge do all the ailment-identifying and therapist-approving?
Maybe D’Souza should be required to listen to all the Librivox audio recordings of Robert Ingersoll’s speeches and lectures.
Maybe D’Souza should be required to listen to all the Librivox audio recordings of Robert Ingersoll’s speeches and lectures.
Maybe I should, just for not knowing they existed. Thanks for the tip.
Therapeutic counseling for violating campaign finance laws?
Is that a joke?
Dinesh is in good company. The previous article in The Smoking Gun was:
‘Man Named Wank Busted At Love’s Truck Stop For Public Lewdness
A man named Calvin Wank was arrested Saturday morning at an upstate New York truck stop after several drivers reported seeing him “committing sexually lewd acts while in the parking lot,” according to police.
Seen at right, Wank is a 56-year-old resident of Deposit, a town about 35 miles from the Love’s Truck Stop where he was busted around 10:15 AM. Witnesses reported that Wank was “committing sexually lewd acts while in the parking lot and field next to the truck stop.”’
I wondered if I’d clicked through to The Onion by mistake. But no, those place names check out in Google Maps…
And his name is actually Wank???
Apparently… 8)
There should totally be a country song called “A Man Named Wank” – in the style of “A Man Named Sue”.
Disappointed! I’ll be in San Diego in a couple weeks. Maybe I’ll try and get a picture with him!
Pity. I think jail would have done wonders for Dinesh. Exercise, co-habitation, mingling with democrats…..
Will Dinesh be allowed to vote anymore, now that he’s a convicted felon?