Skelos is to be sentenced May 12; a week later, John L. Sampson, a former leader of the Senate Democrats, will face his own sentencing.
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Silver’s lawyer said their team will appeal the sentence.
Caproni, citing Silver’s age, said she would not adhere to sentencing guidelines that recommended a term of roughly between 22 and 27 years, saying such a sentence would be “draconian and unjust”.
United States Attorney Preet Bharara, who brought the case, tweeted the “stiff sentence is a just and fitting end to Sheldon Silver’s long career of corruption”.
Even as members of the New York State Assembly debated legislation on domestic abuse and criminalizing bass fishing in the Hudson River, the sentencing of their former leader – Sheldon Silver – didn’t escape their notice.
The seat was previously held for almost 40 years by former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who was stripped of the office at the end of last year after his conviction on multiple federal corruption charges.
“People don’t care who is in power”, he said.
The 72-year-old Manhattan Democrat was expected to plead for leniency during a hearing at which prosecutors sought more than a decade behind bars for causing “immeasurable damage” to the public trust.
Prosecutors have also urged the judge to impose a hefty fine of at least $1 million, in addition to forfeiture of all the fruits of the crime, so that his benefits from his $73,000 annual state pension are limited.
Cuomo remained secluded in New York City Tuesday, the day after he was peppered with questions about subpoenas served on his former top aide and campaign manager, Joseph Percoco, who is under investigation for taking money from entities with business interests before the state.
Justifying the steep sentence, Judge Valerie Caproni said that, “Silver’s corrupt actions cast a shadow over everything he has done and has thrown into doubt any hard decision any legislator has made”.
The gray-haired, bespectacled Silver was first elected in 1976 and served as speaker for 21 years, becoming the classic Albany insider with the power to control bills and state spending singlehandedly in behind-the-scenes negotiations.
Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver arrives to the courthouse in New York, Monday, Nov. 30, 2015.
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A Siena College poll released Tuesday showed 97 percent of the public would like that work to include ethics reform to reduce the frequent incidents of corruption among state lawmakers.
