KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana |Jefferson's former constiuents react to his sentencing
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Associated Press - November 13, 2009 9:04 PM ET
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Louisiana residents had mixed reactions about former Congressman William Jefferson's 13-year sentence handed down Friday in federal court in Virginia.
Jefferson was sentenced for taking bribes and given the longest term ever imposed on a congressman for such a crime.
Thirty-6-year-old James Womack of Gretna says he was satisfied with the length of the sentence but says a longer term would have set a good example for other politicians who think of doing something wrong while in office.
Songy Turner, a 56-year-old from Marrero, says she believes the sentence was just, considering his age. But she says she hopes the politicians coming into office "really consider being honest ... and make an effort to make Louisiana honest."
Forty-1-year-old Christian Boise, of New Orleans, says 13 years wasn't enough time. He says he's still disappointed and angered by Jefferson's actions. Boise says Jefferson abused the public trust and did the city a lot of harm at the height of trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina. He says Jefferson's sentence should have been more.
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