"Public corruption is a cancer," Judge T.S. Ellis said in handing down the sentence.

Jefferson was convicted in August on charges including bribery and racketeering. Prosecutors said he took in nearly half a million dollars in exchange for using his influence to broker business deals in Africa.

Jefferson did not testify at his sentencing hearing in federal court Friday. His attorney Robert Trout said that because they intend to appeal, he had advised Jefferson not to speak in his own behalf.

Lending support to the embattled former congressman was New Orleans Bishop Paul S. Morton, who arrived at the federal courthouse Friday with Jefferson and provided him with religious counsel.

The case made headlines when authorities found $90,000 cash hidden in his freezer, money he received as part of a videotaped FBI sting.

The FBI began investigating Jefferson in 2005 when a disgruntled northern Virginia businesswoman, Lori Mody, complained that she had been cheated out of several million dollars in deals brokered by Jefferson. Mody agreed to wear a wire for the FBI and led him into a videotaped sting operation in which Jefferson was seen picking up a suitcase filled with $100,000 cash. Most of that money was found a few days later in the freezer of Jefferson's Washington home.

Among those who wrote letters to Judge T.S. Ellis III on the former congressman's behalf were Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., and former Rep. Jim McCrery, R-La.. Both men attested to Jefferson's good work in the House of Representatives.

'William Jefferson is more than the punch line of a late-night talk-show joke or the one-dimensional character depicted in the prosecution's arguments,' Trout wrote.

Although judges are not bound by federal sentencing guidelines, they are expected to take them into consideration in crafting a sentence.

Prosecutors said before Friday's sentencing that they wanted the 62-year-old Jefferson to serve at least 27 years in prison, which would have been the longest term ever imposed on a congressman convicted of bribery. The defense said it wanted less than 10 years and that it hoped Jefferson could remain free on bond while he appeals his conviction.

The government also said last week that it wanted Jefferson to begin serving his sentence immediately after Friday's hearing. Prosecutors argued that Jefferson, because of his connections in Africa and elsewhere, could flee the country and thwart efforts at extradition.

"It is time for the public to see that all men are created equal before the law and that everyone, even the most powerful elected officials in our country, will be punished for the crimes they have committed," prosecutor Mark Lytle wrote in court papers filed late Friday.

"Jefferson should have pleaded guilty, if he had pleaded guilty years ago he would have gotten a much shorter sentence than the government is now asking for," Melanie Sloan, executive director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics In Washington, said before Friday's sentence.

A 27- to 33-year term would have been far longer than those received by other congressman in recent scandals.

Former Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, R-Calif., for example, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison after pleading guilty in 2005 to taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. Former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison for taking bribes from lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Former Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, served a seven-year sentence after being convicted in a 2002 trial of bribery and racketeering.

Defense lawyer Robert Trout cited those cases and others to argue that a sentence longer than 10 years would be out of line. He also argued that for Jefferson, a 62-year-old with a history of heart problems, a 27-year term would be like a life sentence.

Jefferson's attorney who is ap_pealing his conviction and wanted the former congressman to be allowed to report to federal prison on Jan. 4, 2010 so he could spend the holidays with his family.

This article was originally published in the November 16, 2009 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper