Former Newark mayor Sharpe James was ordered Tuesday to serve 27 months in prison and pay a $100,000 fine for fraud and conspiracy -- a sentence that capped a spectacular downfall for one of New Jersey's political titans, but one that incensed prosecutors who thought it was too light.
U.S. District Judge William Martini said he compared sentences given to other prominent New Jersey politicians convicted of corruption in recent years and concluded the government's request to send James away for more than a decade would be "an extreme injustice" that didn't match his crime.
The judge said there was no doubt James broke the law by failing to disclose he was romantically involved with Tamika Riley when he helped her buy nine plots in a city redevelopment zone from 2001 through 2005. But Martini said he struggled to identify a victim in the case, and he said he also considered James' contributions during five terms as mayor.
"I have a track record here of a man who is 72 years old who accomplished a lot in his life," the judge said.
He sentenced the 39-year-old Riley to even less, 15 months in prison, finding she was a woman whose mistakes stemmed in part from her emotional entanglement with the mayor. Riley was also ordered to pay $27,000 in restitution for housing subsidies she received undeservedly.
Both are scheduled to report to prison Sept. 15.
James, whose oversized personality and gap-toothed grin embodied Newark for decades, did not flinch when Martini announced the sentence. Earlier, James broke a yearlong silence about the case, apologizing to his wife and his onetime constituents.
"If I made a mistake, your honor, it was not of malice or intent," James told the judge, placing his hands on the defense table and bending down to speak into a microphone. "I would never do anything to hurt the city of Newark or the people of Newark."
The sentence riled prosecutors and law enforcement agents, souring what some had expected to be a day marking justice against an official long under scrutiny. U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said his office will appeal the sentence, contending it was unreasonable under federal sentencing guidelines.
"I am confident, as I have been right from the beginning, that when this case is examined fully and dispassionately, we will get the appropriate result -- even more appropriate than the one we got here today," Christie said.
Sentencing came barely two years after James ended his historic tenure as Newark's mayor, a 20-year stretch during which he forged a profile as the city's most impassioned booster and a Democratic Party power broker whose influence rippled statewide.
Along the way, James, a onetime gym teacher, added "state senator" to his resume and amassed the trappings of success not usually seen from public service: a yacht, Rolls-Royce, eight properties, and millions in the bank.
James' path from king to convict was unusually swift, starting around the same time he abandoned a 2006 re-election bid and effectively ceded the office to his young rival, Cory Booker. That summer, FBI agents raided a storage garage James rented in Hillside, and newcomers at City Hall turned over records detailing years of travel and entertainment expenses he had billed to city-issued credit cards.
The indictment, returned last summer, alleged Riley received the opportunity to buy the city land only because she was James' mistress, and that the mayor ignored his duty to disclose the relationship before signing city contracts to sell her the land. Despite a pledge to rehabilitate the parcels, Riley resold most of them to established developers soon after buying them, netting several hundred thousand dollars.
Neither James nor Riley testified at trial, and neither spoke after the jury found them guilty on all counts. Tuesday, their attorneys returned to the arguments that had failed before the jury and in post-trial motions: The government, they said, never proved a crime.
"Sharpe James made certainly what is, in retrospect, a terrible, terrible mistake in judgment after 38 years in office, by not disclosing his alleged relationship with Tamika Riley," defense attorney Thomas Ashley said. "And the reasons are obvious: He did not want to embarrass his wife. He did not want to embarrass his kids."
Ashley and defense attorney Alan Zegas argued the former mayor deserved probation. Prosecutors, meanwhile, refused to budge from their claim the crimes warranted nearly 20 years in prison regardless of James' accomplishments or age.
"Committing crimes does not come with an AARP card," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Germano, the lead prosecutor. "This is not like going to the movies. There is no discount for age."
The arguments didn't resonate with the judge. Again and again, Martini cut off Germano, challenging the government's logic for such a stiff sentence and rejecting the interpretation of the sentencing guidelines by prosecutors and the U.S. Probation Department. He said James did not profit from the crime and the city did not lose any revenue.
"Don't talk about a history of corruption unless you prove that," he said. "You didn't prove that in this courtroom, as far as I'm concerned."
In an unusually pointed criticism that clearly rattled Germano, the judge said prosecutors may have fanned public misconceptions that James was just another Jersey politician whose conviction was long overdue. He said he wouldn't be "intimidated" into meting out an unfair punishment.
"You throw out a person's entire life history and good because of a crime they commit when they are 69? Is that what I'm supposed to do?" Martini said, later adding, "Even prosecutors have a responsibility to look for justice."
As the judge's skepticism became clearer, prosecutors began girding themselves for a sentence well below what they had sought. At one point, Christie, sitting in the front row with state Attorney General Anne Milgram, whose office assisted on the case, shook his head in apparent disgust as the judge spoke.
Martini read a litany of sentences given to New Jersey politicians who had been convicted of what he called more-egregious crimes. He noted former state Senate president John Lynch got a 39-month term for accepting tens of thousands of dollars in kickbacks, former Marlboro Township mayor Matthew Scannapieco is serving 21 months for taking nearly a quarter-million dollars in bribes, and one-time Paterson mayor Martin Barnes served 37 months for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in payoffs, starting almost as soon as he took office.
Martini, a Republican, came to the bench in 2002 after a career as a federal prosecutor, defense attorney, Passaic County freeholder and, ultimately, a congressman. He mentioned his background several times, noting politicians often do favors for constituents and it's sometimes hard for some of them to distinguish between public service and wrongdoing.
James' mistake, he said, was not unusual.
"Extramarital affairs are catalysts which, unfortunately, can lead to complicated situations where judgments are clouded and in dispute," the judge said. "That's not an absolute excuse, but it's the reality of the world."
James' attorneys, who have said they would appeal the verdict, declined comment after the hearing, as did James. Federal inmates must serve at least 85 percent of their term, which for James would be nearly 23 months.
Christie defended his office's record.
"In seven weeks, Sharpe James will report to federal prison. In seven weeks he will be away from the house at the beach, from the Rolls-Royce, and from the romantic strolls down Broad Street to catch the bus with the 'real people,'" Christie said. "In seven weeks, he will serve time in federal prison for one reason and one reason only: He is a criminal."