WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge says the former head of a whistle-blower protection office under President George W. Bush must spend at least a month in jail.
The opinion issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson Wednesday night could derail Scott Bloch's plea agreement. Prosecutors had agreed he should get probation for pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of lying to Congress about files that he ordered erased from office computers.
Bloch was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, but Robinson postponed that until Monday because of her ruling.
Bloch pleaded to criminal contempt of Congress, which Robinson quoted as requiring a sentence of "imprisonment in a common jail for not less than one month." She rejected arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys that she has the discretion to impose a lower sentence.
Published: Fri, Feb 4, 2011
