JACKSON — Knowing he’d been recommended for a maximum 20-year sentence, a businessman who bribed Mississippi’s former prisons chief pleaded for and received mercy Friday from a federal judge.
“I know the difference between right and wrong,” Cecil McCrory told U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate. “I knew it was wrong, and I knew it when I did it. I would just ask you for mercy.”
Declaring that the 66-year-old might never have been convicted without the help he gave investigators in the bribery scandal that centered on then-Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps, Wingate sentenced him to 8 ½ years in federal prison for one count of money laundering conspiracy.
“Without him, I don’t know where the case would be at this junction,” Wingate said, noting McCrory cooperated with investigators for months without a lawyer or plea deal. “I do know you made it easier for them to get here.”
McCrory must also pay a $150,000 fine, forfeit $1.7 million in assets and serve two years of probation after he’s released. Wingate ordered him to report to prison April 4, leaving him free until then on bail. Wingate also ruled that he’d review McCrory’s sentence after other bribery cases wrap up to make sure it’s not too high compared with others.
“We’re pleased with the result,” said McCrory’s lawyer, Carlos Tanner. “This is much more in line with what Mr. McCrory actually did than what Mr. McCrory was facing.”
Six people have pleaded guilty in the multimillion-dollar bribery scheme, and charges are pending against two others. Epps pleaded guilty to money laundering and filing false tax returns in February 2015 and is set to be sentenced May 24. He could get up to 23 years in prison.
McCrory pleaded guilty to taking $40,000 in cash from Epps after a monthly bribe-passing meeting at a Waffle House, labeling it as proceeds from a tractor sale and wiring it to Epps’ investment account.
But that duffel bag of cash changed hands deep into the scheme, McCrory has testified. He said he began bribing Epps as early as 2007, first paying off the mortgage on the longtime prison chief’s home in a gated subdivision in exchange for Epps’ approval of the sale of McCrory’s prison commissary business, which generated a windfall for the former state lawmaker and county official.
Years of bribes helped Epps acquire a beachfront condo and a pair of top-of-the-line Mercedes Benz cars, according to testimony. Epps ordered vendors to hire McCrory as consultant, with McCrory kicking back a share of the profits on what eventually amounted to more than $5 million in revenue.
When investigators confronted McCrory in early 2014, he quickly admitted guilt. He recorded incriminating phone calls with Epps and invited investigators to video-record a bribe pass.
McCrory tried last year to withdraw his guilty plea, but Wingate denied that motion, saying McCrory’s testimony at his February 2015 plea hearing had been too detailed and too damning.
Prosecutors then argued that they were no longer under any obligation to recommend a lighter sentence, arguing that McCrory had breached his side of the plea deal. But Wingate made a series of rulings Friday that reduced the sentence called for by federal guidelines. With McCrory still facing 14 or more years in prison, Wingate ruled that even that was too much.
“The information he provided is absolutely vital,” the judge said.
Asked by Wingate, Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca rated McCrory’s cooperation as a nine on a scale of 10.
“We had bits and pieces of a lot of things, but Mr. McCrory was helpful in putting the pieces together,” LaMarca told Wingate.
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