By FRED SHUSTER
LOS ANGELES — A day after federal prosecutors recommended a 13-year prison term for disgraced former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar, defense attorneys countered Friday that nine years would be sufficient punishment for the “humiliated and destroyed” ex-politician.
“To say that Mr. Huizar is chastened and remorseful — for committing crimes, for hurting his family, for disappointing his friends and the community, for wasting his potential — would make understatement blush,” according to the defense sentencing memorandum. “He has been publicly pilloried and subjected to the mob. He has been personally humiliated and destroyed.”
Huizar pleaded guilty to felony charges for using his powerful position at City Hall to enrich himself and his associates, and for cheating on his taxes. He faces a sentencing hearing scheduled for Jan. 26 although he is asking for a month’s continuance.
Along with the 13-year federal prison term, the government is asking for more than $1.3 million in fines and restitution.
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“Huizar was a powerful career politician who swore an oath to defend the Constitution, faithfully discharge the duties of his office, and serve the interests of his constituents,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing papers. “Instead, time and time again, defendant violated that oath and duty, choosing instead to place his own lust for money and power above the rights and interests of the people he was elected to serve. Through an astoundingly brazen and long-running RICO conspiracy that defendant led, he corrupted himself and other powerful developers and city officials at the public’s expense.”
Huizar, 55, of Boyle Heights, pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and one count of tax evasion.
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