Former attorney general Edward T. Buckingham was sentenced this afternoon, Wednesday, to 3.5 years in prison, all suspended, for his conviction on corruption charges.<\/p>\n
Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo ordered the 65-year-old Buckingham to pay a $14,000 fine and placed him on unsupervised probation.<\/p>\n
Govendo prohibited the former AG from employment with the CNMI government for 20 years.<\/p>\n
Office of the Public Auditor legal counsel George Hasselback recommended a sentence of one year in prison, without possibility of parole, and fine.<\/p>\n
Before he was sentenced, Buckingham made a brief statement to the court, in which he apologized for his conduct.<\/p>\n
Govendo found Buckingham guilty of use of public supplies, time and personnel for campaign activities; use of the name of a government department or agency to campaign and\/or express support for a candidate running for public office; misconduct in public office (related to campaign matter); conspiracy to commit theft of services (related to escort issue); misconduct in public office (pertaining to escort issue); conspiracy to commit theft service (related to use government counsels to represent him); and misconduct in public office (use of government counsels).<\/p>\n
Govendo acquitted Buckingham on one count of failure to produce documents or information (pertaining to Office of the Public Auditor\u2019s request).<\/p>\n
The bench trial began last Feb. 10.<\/p>\n
OPA originally filed 12 criminal charges against Buckingham in connection with an alleged violation of election laws and illegal award of a sole-source contract, among others.<\/p>\n
Govendo earlier dismissed four charges, including those pertaining to the contract issue.<\/p>\n
More details to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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