Ex-Traffic Court Judge Running For Philly City Council Re-sentenced On Lying To FBI Charge
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There was a fight Wednesday over the sentencing of an ex-Philadelphia traffic court judge who was charged in a ticket-fixing scheme. Willie Singletary, who is also running for Philadelphia City Council, received 15 to 21 months in a re-sentencing hearing, which Singletary has already served.
Singletary and his attorney, Bill Brennan, argued he should have been initially sentenced to between zero and six months' time incarceration because a jury only found him guilty of lying to the FBI.
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Singletary and other city traffic court judges were acquitted of corruption-related counts following a ten-week federal trial in 2014, Brennan said.
Federal prosecutors said Singletary still doesn't get it. They rehashed allegations Singletary lied to protect himself and other convicted judges on a court that was so corrupted, the state abolished it, prosecutors said.
Both Brennan and Singletary responded to those allegations outside the federal courthouse.
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"I don't know how you can say Willie Singletary is the single reason that any court was wiped out. The jury found every judge not guilty of every corruption charge. He was charged with lying to the FBI, which is the single-most, home-field advantage any system of jurisprudence ever issued," said Brennan.
"There's no disaster that happened in traffic court," said Singletary. "The name was changed, but the same employees that worked there when I was there, are the same employees that work there now. The only difference is municipal judges versus traffic judges."
U.S. Federal Court Judge Robert Kelly said in a statement, "The dishonest conduct in this traffic court was so pervasive, the state destroyed the court, wiped it out."
Singletary is now running for Philadelphia City Council and since he's a convicted felon, he may be barred from doing so.
