Judge Sends Jones to Slammer

Disgraced runner draws maximum sentence recommended in plea deal
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 11, 2008 12:25 PM CST
Judge Sends Jones to Slammer
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones cries as she addresses the media during a news conference outside the federal courthouse in White Plains, N.Y., after pleading guilty to lying to federal investigators when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs, in this Oct. 5, 2007 file photo. ...   (Associated Press)

A federal judge threw the book at Marion Jones today, sentencing the disgraced Olympian to 6 months in prison for lying about steroid use and participating in a check-fraud scam. Jones begged the judge not to separate her from her family, and prosecutors said they were okay with a zero-month sentence. Instead, the judge gave her the maximum sentence recommended in her plea deal.

Jones asked the judge to be “as merciful as a human being can be,” but her hopes of going free were dim. The judge had asked the lawyers if he could impose a sentence longer than the 6-month maximum suggested in her plea deal, or sentence her for the bank scam and drug lies separately. Both sides advised against that. (More Marion Jones stories.)

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