Lawyer convicted of helping client launder proceeds from stolen equipment gets 2 years
A long legal battle is ending with a two-year federal prison sentence for a former California prosecutor and defense attorney convicted of helping an ex-client launder $120,000 he obtained by selling stolen computer equipment.
Rejecting a bid by Jamie Harley for home confinement, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh did, however, give the 57-year-old ex-attorney six months less than the government had sought in the San Jose case, the Mercury News reports. Koh also said Harley doesn’t have to report to prison until June 30, so she can be present at her daughter’s graduation from college.
Harley, who has denied that she knew the funds were illicitly obtained, dabbed at her eyes with a tissue during the hour-long Wednesday sentencing but declined to speak. Her lawyer said she intends to appeal and will seek a stay of her sentence while the appeal proceeds.
Convicted in 2010, Harley won a reversal in 2011, persuading the trial judge to nix the verdict based on his own faulty jury instructions.
However, a federal appeals court reinstated the guilty verdict (PDF) in 2013, finding that the faulty instructions were harmless error, the Mercury News reported at the time.
Harley was formerly known as Jamie Harmon.
