Ex-Calif. lawmaker sentenced

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge sentenced former California Democratic State Sen. Leland Yee on Wednesday to five years in prison after he acknowledged in a plea deal that he accepted thousands of dollars in bribes and discussed helping an undercover FBI agent buy automatic weapons from the Philippines.

Senior District Court Judge Charles Breyer called the weapons allegations against Yee - a gun-control advocate - unfathomable and said it was frightening that Yee would be willing to go against his public position on guns in exchange for money.

"I don't feel I should be lenient," Breyer said during the hearing. "The crimes that you committed have resulted in essentially an attack on democratic institutions."

Still, Breyer's sentence fell on the low end of guidelines that called for a prison term of between four years and nine months and six years.

Prosecutors had recommended an eight-year sentence. Yee's attorneys had called for no more than five years and three months behind bars, saying Yee had a history of public service and his wife was ill.

Yee, 67, told the judge before sentencing that he had accepted responsibility for his crimes and wanted to take care of his disabled wife.

"Nothing will ever take away those crimes and those actions," he said. "Nothing that I will ever do will take away the pain that I have caused to my family friends, constituents, supporters."

Yee is a longtime politician who also served in the state Assembly and on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

He pleaded guilty in July to one count of conspiracy to engage in racketeering. The charge was filed as part of an organized crime probe in San Francisco's Chinatown that led to charges against more than two dozen people.