Traficant Gets Eight Years

James A. Traficant Jr., the maverick Democrat convicted of corruption charges and then kicked out of the U.S. House, was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in prison for accepting bribes and kickbacks.

Defiant throughout his trial and ethics hearings, he earlier had filed to run for a 10th term in November as an independent, despite the threat of imprisonment and expulsion.

U.S. District Judge Lesley Wells gave Traficant a longer sentence than prosecutors had asked for, saying he had no respect for the government and that he used lies to distract attention from the charges against him.

She said he abused the public's trust, reduced public confidence in government, obstructed justice and took a leadership role in recruiting people to further his scheme.

She also told Traficant, 61, that he believes he is above the law.

"You've done a lot of good in your years in Congress ... the good you have done does not excuse you of the crime you were convicted of," she told him.

Traficant accused Wells of aiding the prosecution and complained that he wasn't allowed to argue during the trial that the government has a vendetta against him.

"Why did you tie my hands behind my back?" he asked Wells as she sentenced him. Wells then ordered him to sit down.

Earlier in the day, she had rejected his argument that he should not be sanctioned because he has already been punished by expulsion from the House. Traficant had argued that a prison sentence would amount to double jeopardy or being punished twice for the same crime.

Wells agreed with federal prosecutors, who had argued in a motion that Traficant's expulsion "was not criminal punishment. The action was inherently political and nonjudicial in nature." Besides, they argued, if such a motion were upheld, no expelled member of Congress could ever be tried.

Dozens of reporters surrounded Traficant as he arrived on the courthouse steps. He would only repeat, "All of Ohio and America knows I've been railroaded."

Since his conviction in April, the Youngstown Democrat has filed a flurry of motions seeking to have his conviction overturned. On Monday, Wells dismissed his request for a new trial.

After a raucous trial lasting about 2 1/2 months, he was convicted April 11 of 10 counts of bribery, tax evasion and racketeering. He was found guilty of requiring staff members to do personal chores for him and kick back a portion of their paychecks and of accepting cash bribes and various favors from businessmen who were seeking his help in Washington.

Although he is not a lawyer, Traficant defended himself both before jurors and fellow lawmakers, insisting he was innocent and the victim of a government vendetta. He hired lawyers only to represent him for the sentencing.

He defended himself in 1983 when he won a racketeering case in which he was accused of taking mob money while Mahoning County sheriff. He also said his efforts in Congress to limit the powers of the IRS made him a target.

Last week, Traficant filed motions arguing the testimony of Virginia business executive Richard Detore before the House ethics committee raised questions about the conduct of prosecutors.

Detore, who is accused by the government of funneling bribes from his company to Traficant, didn't testify during Traficant's trial. Before the ethics committee, he said government prosecutors tried to pressure him into lying about Traficant so they could convict the congressman.

Wells said Monday that Detore's testimony doesn't amount to new evidence because Traficant made a tape recording of Detore saying the same thing a year ago, and could have called him to testify as a defense witness.

During the trial and House hearings, Traficant mounted a loud, sometimes comic and frequently vulgar defense. Often dressed in his trademark denim suits, bell-bottom pants and battered cowboy boots, with a mop of unkempt gray hair, he argued that witnesses had lied under pressure from prosecutors.