The U.S. probation office has determined that federal sentencing guidelines call for former Virginia first lady Maureen McDonnell to spend as many as six and a half years in prison – ‘a stiff term that she is unlikely to receive, but will nonetheless serve to guide the judge deciding her fate’, according to a report from the Washington Post.
In a sealed report given to prosecutors and defense attorneys last week, the probation office wrote that it had calculated McDonnell’s so-called guideline range as 63 to 78 months – roughly five to six-and-a-half years in prison, the report says.
Two people familiar with the report’s contents described the range under the condition of anonymity because the matter has not been made public, NewsChannel 3 has learned. U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer is required to consider that range as he sentences the former first lady on Feb. 20, though he is not bound to follow it.
