From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100310 ... z0hoRfwTRR
Angry Conyers vows to appeal 37-month sentence
Paul Egan and Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News
Detroit --Former Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers was sentenced to 37 months in prison today, but not before controversy and confusion erupted when she announced she wanted to withdraw her guilty plea to bribery.
In a loud and lengthy tirade that targeted federal prosecutors and the news media, Conyers said the court was trying to make an example of her and sentence her for crimes she did not commit.
"I'm not going to be made the scapegoat for other people," Conyers told U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn. "I'm sorry that the newspapershave put pressure on you to make an example of me."
"I'm just not going to jail for something I didn't do."
Conyers' shock announcement -- "I want to withdraw my guilty plea" -- created uncertainty whether her sentencing would go ahead as a courtroom packed with media, relatives, supporters and others waited, as did a large crowd in the corridor that had been turned away from the courtroom.
But Cohn, who read aloud a transcript from Conyers' plea hearing in June, said he believed her plea was made knowingly and he would not allow her to withdraw it at what Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Chutkow called "the 11th hour."
An angry Conyers left the courtroom vowing to appeal.
"I'm walking out the front door and I'm appealing this case because he didn't have no right to do that," Conyers said.
But it's not clear whether she can. Her plea agreement said she waived her appeal rights provided Cohn did not sentence her to more than five years in prison, which is the maximum sentence for bribery conspiracy.
Cohn said she does not have to report to prison before July 1. After her prison term, she is to serve two years of supervised release, he said.
Conyers' Detroit attorney, Steve Fishman, asked to withdraw from the case immediately after the sentencing hearing, saying Conyers may have appeal rights and he could be a witness at any appeal.
"This case is over for me," Fishman said.
Conyers, 45, admitted in June she took at least $6,000 in cash bribes in connection with her vote on the $1.2 billion contract the council awarded to Synagro Technologies Inc. of Texas in 2007.
She had originally spoken out against the controversial deal, but her "yes" vote proved to be the deciding one as the contract passed 5-4.
Part of the controversy over the attempted plea withdrawal stemmed from Cohn's comments that he would consider other "relevant conduct" such as alleged shakedowns of a strip club, a technology company and a real estate developer with matters before the City Council or the General Retirement System, where Conyers sat as a trustee.
Those alleged acts involved more than $60,000 in illegal payments and increased Conyers' sentencing guidelines -- which are advisory only -- from 30-37 months to 46-57 months, Cohn said. Those allegations were detailed at the recent corruption trial of political consultant Sam Riddle, a former top aide to Conyers accused of working with her to shake down businesses. Riddle's trial ended in a mistrial in February.
Conyers protested vehemently, saying she denied all the allegations, and Cohn relented, saying he would not consider the other conduct and would leave Conyers' sentencing guidelines at 30-37 months.
But that did not dissuade Conyers from wanting to withdraw her guilty plea.
"Everything Sam has done he has done on his own," she said.
She cited what she said was the unfairness of West Bloomfield businessman Karl Kado recently receiving probation after admitting to hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal payments. She pleaded for her two sons, saying they are young and that her husband, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, who was not in the courtroom, is an older man.
And she said that while the government has wiretap evidence against her, she has her own tapes that point to her innocence. She said she recorded conversations with Detroit businessman Rayford W. Jackson, Riddle and others.
It was disclosed for the first time today that Conyers has attempted to cooperate with government prosecutors. According to Cohn, prosecutors said they are still checking out information she gave them but so far do not feel it is valuable enough to warrant a recommendation for a reduced sentence.
"If I have to go the jail for what I've done, I'd love that," she told Cohn. "But I'll talk to my family and I don't want to go to jail for things I didn't do."
Conyers told the judge he had received a report from a doctor the judge sent her to, which revealed she was vulnerable to badgering.
"You had me go to see a doctor," Conyers told the judge. "She talked about why I pleaded guilty ... I think that is the basis for withdrawing my plea."
Conyers' anger contrasted with her calm when she arrived for the 2 p.m. sentencing in sunglasses. She popped her head into the courtroom from the adjacent jury room, wearing sunglasses.
"I just want to say hi to my family. Hi everybody," Conyers said, blowing kisses.
About a dozen family members and friends and her pastor were in court. Lennie Jackson, a paroled drug felon and the brother of Detroit businessman Rayford W. Jackson, testified at Riddle's trial that he acted as a courier for his brother, delivering cash to Conyers at a west side Detroit McDonald's and the Butzel Family Center on the east side. Jackson also testified he delivered Conyers an envelope outside a Mr. Fish restaurant, though he didn't know what the envelope contained.
An FBI agent testified about another 2007 incident at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in which he saw what he believed was cash passing hands from Rayford Jackson to Riddle to Conyers.
Rayford Jackson, Synagro's Detroit partner on the sludge deal, refused to cooperate with investigators and got the maximum five-year sentence. He is now locked up in a federal prison in upstate New York.
James R. Rosendall Jr., the former Synagro vice president who assisted investigators by making secret audio and video recordings, was sentenced to 11 months. He has yet to report to prison.
Lennie Jackson was not charged but could face trouble for violating parole from his drug case.
Riddle's trial ended in a mistrial in February. His retrial is set for July.
pegan@detnews.com (313) 222-2069 Staff Writer Christine MacDonald contributed.
