By ALEX GINSBERG
June 13, 2008
She'll finally get her house - the big house.
A Brooklyn judge slapped disgraced former Assemblywoman Diane Gordon with a sentence of two to six years in prison yesterday for promising to do favors for a developer in return for a free luxury home.
"It must be said that your conduct was an outrageous breach of trust," said Justice Robert McGann. "You were in this to benefit yourself to an outrageous degree."
Supporters who packed the courtroom gasped and cried as the judge announced the prison term for Gordon, who was convicted of bribe receiving, official misconduct and other charges.
Gordon, 58, was caught in a sting engineered by prosecutors and shady developer Ranjan Batheja. He promised to build Gordon a house if she helped him get a contract from the city to develop a vacant lot in the Democratic assemblywoman's East New York district.
"I apologize to my family, my friends, my supporters and my community," said Gordon, who was stripped of her seat after four terms following her conviction in April.
"This is a very painful experience for me as it must be for them. I regret these circumstances deeply. No one wants to go to prison, and I am no different from anyone else."
Gordon's lawyers immediately asked an appeals court to spring her while she fights the conviction, but a judge in that court put off a decision until Monday. Gordon must now stay at Rikers Island for at least the weekend.
The jury that convicted her watched hours of surveillance video taken from a miniature camera hidden on Batheja.
On the tapes, Gordon is seen talking to Batheja about a lavish $500,000 Jacuzzi-equipped home he was planning to build in a gated community on Linden Boulevard, a block outside Gordon's district.
"One hand wash the other," she tells him. "If we're able to work something out, this is what I would look for you to be able to do. Make sure that I get a home over there."
She was also convicted of accepting a pair of doors in her office from Batheja as part of the deal.
Prosecutors asked for a stiffer sentence of five to 15 years, noting that Gordon ran for re-election in 2006 even after she was indicted.
"The defendant held on to the seat she defiled," said Assistant DA Michel Spanakos. "That same greed, selfishness and arrogance was on display."
Defense lawyer Bernard Udell pleaded for mercy, noting Gordon's history of community service.
"She's a voice for the voiceless," he said. "This is not her."
McGann agreed that Gordon had done many good deeds in her time in office but slammed her for expecting more.
"When the day comes when that's not reward enough, is the day the voiceless people have no hope," he said.
