Judge recommends Cellini serve sentence at minimum security facilities in Ala. or Texas
BY KIM JANSSEN Federal Courts Reporter kjanssen@suntimes.com October 16, 2012 5:52PM
Accompanied by his daughter, Claudia, and wife, Julie, William F. Cellini leaves court Thursday after he was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison. | Andrew A. Nelles~Sun-Times Media
Updated: November 18, 2012 7:01AM
Disgraced power broker William Cellini should be held at a federal prison camp in Montgomery, Ala., or failing that, in Fort Worth, Texas, a judge has recommended.
The 77-year-old Springfield “King of Clout” — convicted of trying to shakedown a Hollywood producer for a campaign contribution to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich — last week requested Judge James Zagel give the recommendation for medical reasons.
At his sentencing hearing earlier this month, Cellini’s attorney Dan Webb said the one-year-and-one-day sentence Zagel imposed was “tantamount to a life sentence,” given the serious health problems Cellini has suffered, including two heart attacks and prostate cancer.
Zagel agreed to delay Cellini’s incarceration until January, so that the Bureau of Prisons can prepare a plan to assist Cellini should he suffer a medical emergency behind bars.
Despite the judge’s recommendation, it is up to the bureau to decide where Cellini serves time.
Both the Montgomery camp Zagel recommended and the Fort Worth penitentiary he suggested as a backup plan are minimum security facilities.
Wherever he ends up, the multimillionaire Cellini will have to pay the costs of his own incarceration — an added punishment Zagel noted federal judges “usually do not” include.
