Argue that D’Souza’s theories of conspiracy suggest he is not sorry for violations.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW YORK: Conservative writer and film-maker Dinesh D’Souza, who had pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, but had asked for community service and probation to atone for it, may be headed to jail, after the prosecution rejected his request, and instead asked him to be sentenced 10-16 months for his crime.
The case emanated from D’Souza’s illegal Senate contributions to the campaign of Republican New York candidate Wendy Long, where he used straw donors, and then reimbursed them.
When he pleaded guilty to the indictment earlier this month, the defense for D’Souza had presented him in court as a “humiliated” man, who was “ashamed and contrite” for his actions, in order to avoid him being sentenced to jail.
In his own sentencing recommendation on September 3, D’Souza said he “cannot believe how stupid I was, how careless, and how irresponsible.”
However, Preet Bharara, the US District Attorney for the Suthern District of New York, whose office brought about the charges, is not buying that. They pointed to D’Souza’s recent behavior online — particularly his insinuations that his prosecution is politically motivated — as evidence that his claim to be “ashamed and contrite” was insincere, reported Salon.
To defend their choice, federal officials noted that D’Souza turned himself in at “the last possible moment” before trial, and since the indictment has repeatedly claimed during appearances on TV and through the Internet that he is a political target and had little choice but to offer a guilty plea, said the Salon report. ”Based on the defendant’s own post-plea statements,” prosecutors’ filing reads, “the court should reject the defendant’s claims of contrition on the eve of sentencing.”
Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer for D’Souza, said in response to the filing: “Any suggestion that Mr. D’Souza has not fully accepted responsibility for his conduct is patently absurd.”
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan is scheduled to sentence D’Souza on September 23. The defendant faces a maximum of two years in prison.
The New York Daily News reported that D’Souza’s college-aged daughter Danielle even came to bat for her father, pointing to her father’s troubled personal life that impaired his judgment.
“A few weeks after making the mistake of violating New York’s campaign finance laws, my parents filed for divorce. He was very stressed during this time as my parents had been married for 20 years,” she explained in a letter to the judge.
D’Souza was forced to resign in October 2012 as president of The King’s College, a Christian school in New York, when it emerged that he was engaged to a woman while still married to his first wife.
FOX News contributor Laura Ingraham, who had dated D’Souza before he married his first wife Dixie, also wrote a letter in support of D’Souza, said News.