A longtime Alabama sheriff removed from office after being convicted of theft and ethics violations should spend three years in jail, but not the one he ran for decades, state prosecutors told a judge.
Former Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely, 70, also should be required to pay $14,000 in fines and restitution and serve two years on probation following his release from custody, the attorney general’s office said in a sentencing recommendation filed Monday.
Blakely should get to serve time in a county jail rather than state prison because of his law enforcement background and lack of prior convictions, news outlets reported that prosecutors recommended. But he should not be allowed to stay in the jail in Limestone County, where Blakely has been held since being convicted earlier this month.
The defense had yet to suggest a sentence to Judge Pamela Baschab, who scheduled Blakely’s sentencing hearing for Friday morning.
Blakely was convicted of taking no-interest loans from a jail fund that held prisoners’ money and stealing $4,000 from his campaign account. Prosecutors said Blakely should serve a maximum sentence since “accountability is critical when public officials violate their oaths and abuse positions of authority.”
Blakely, first elected in the north Alabama county in 1983, served 10 terms in office. He was indicted in 2019, but the case didn’t go to trial until this year, partly because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
