Disgraced former Queens state senator Shirley Huntley today was sentenced to one year in prison and three years of probation for looting an educational non-profit she had founded out of $87,000 to fund shopping sprees, among other things.
Huntley, 74, had asked Brooklyn federal court Judge Jack Weinstein for a non-jail sentence, citing her daughter’s brain aneurysm.
Weinstein didn’t give her what she wanted, but he did sentence her to less than the 18 to 24 month range requested by prosecutors and federal sentencing guidelines.
“The court is leaning towards a downward departure,” Weinstein said, signaling his intention to cut Huntley a break, however small. “I will provide a non-guideline sentence.”
Huntley had no visible reaction when Weinstein told her the sentence was a year-plus-a-day. She also was ordered to pay $87,000 in restitution.
“This is a special case of a member of the legislature who has pleaded guilty to stealing funds allocated for the special purpose of aiding the children of the city of New York,” Weinstein noted.
Because he gave Huntley sentence of a year-plus-one-day, the former senator will be eligible for release from prison after serving 85 percent of her time. Also, after spending just one month in jail, Huntley will be allowed to petition for an even earlier release than that.
If she had been given a lesser sentence, Huntley would have been required to serve 100 percent of the time. After her release she will be on probation for three years.
She already is on probation for five years after being sentenced in March in Nassau County Supreme court for tampering with physical evidence in the case against her niece Lynn Smith and her political aide Patricia Savage, who looted funds from another non-profit organization.
Huntley’s sentencing came amidst intense publicity on her case, which focused less on her actual crimes, and more on the recent stunning disclosure that she had secretly tapped other politicians and other people last summer at the direction of prosecutors in a bid to win leniency.
Yesterday, the names of six Democratic state senators she had taped were disclosed in an unsealed court document: John Sampson of Brooklyn, former NYPD cop Eric Adams of Brooklyn, Jose Peralta of Queens, Ruth Hassell-Thompson of The Bronx, Malcolm Smith of Queens and Velmanette Montgomery of Brooklyn.
All six, and two political operatives remain under investigation by Brooklyn federal prosecutors. A ninth person she taped, city Councilman Ruben Wills, is not longer under investigation by that office.
Huntley’s lawyer told Weinstein at today’s sentencing that since last week’s public disclosure that Huntley had cooperated with prosecutors her family has been harassed with menacing phone calls and worse.
“Mr. Huntley just this week was accosted — physically accosted — on the street,” said defense lawyer Sally Butler. “The family has been terrorized. They’re really scared for their lives.”