|
WHITE PLAINS, New York: Disgraced former athletics
star Marion Jones was sentenced Friday to six months in prison for
lying about taking steroids in a doping scandal that cost the
sprinter her five Olympic medals.
Jones’s humiliating fall from
grace accelerated when she admitted she lied to federal
investigators about being a dope cheat and about her role in a check
fraud scheme and culminated with the prison sentence.
“The offenses here are
serious,” said US District Court Judge Kenneth Karas. “They each
involve lies made three years apart.”
In passing sentence, Karas said
that Jones had made “not a one-off mistake . . . but a repetition
in an attempt to break the law.
“Nobody is above the legal
obligation to tell the truth,” he said, adding, “I recognize
this is not a happy day for you or for your family.”
Jones, 32, pleaded guilty in
October to lying to federal agents over a steroid distribution
scandal involving California laboratory BALCO and her role in a
check fraud scheme.
After the sentence was imposed, a
tearful Jones shared an embrace with her husband, Barbados sprinter
Obedele Thompson, and other family members.
A still-emotional Jones later
spoke briefly to reporters outside the courthouse.
“I respect the judge’s orders
and I truly hope that people will learn from my mistakes,” Jones
said.
Jones admitted in a statement to
the court before sentencing that she was “scared and nervous about
today’s outcome,” breaking down in tears as she pleaded with the
judge to spare her jail time.
“Yes, I made mistakes by
lying,” she said. “I have admitted these too late but hopefully
not too late to elicit from you the milk of human kindness.”
“We all make mistakes,” she
added. “But I strongly believe that a person’s true character is
revealed by their admission of those mistakes,” she said.
Jones was also sentenced to two
years’ supervised release and 400 hours of community service.
Jones must submit herself into
custody by March 11 to begin serving a sentence that Karas said was
meant to deter other athletes from following down Jones’ path.
“Athletes in society have an
elevated status. They entertain, they inspire and perhaps most im–portantly
they do serve as role models for children around the world,” Karas
said.
“When there is this widespread
cheating . . . It sends all the wrong messages to those who follow
the athlete’s every moves.”
Karas had previously asked why
Jones should not be made to serve each perjury sentence
consecutively rather than at the same time.
Defense and prosecution lawyers
appealed to him not to stretch out the time given the public humi–liation
she has endured.
Prosecutors asked that Jones be
given a six-month sentence as was agreed in her plea bargain, which
saved the effort of trials on both charges. Defense attorneys had
said she should serve no jail time given her downfall.
A tearful confession to doping
after years of denials was followed by Jones returning the three
gold medals and two bronze medals she won at the 2000 Sydney
Olympics to the International Olympic Committee.
Jones captured gold in the 100-
and 200-meters at Sydney and helped the 4x100-m relay to gold as
well. She was also a five-time world champion.
But now, Jones has had all
results since September 1, 2000, stricken from the records and has
been banned by the IAAF, although she has retired from competition.
Jones lied to federal agents
three times, starting in November of 2003 when asked about her
connections to the BALCO steroid scandal.
In August and September of 2006,
Jones was questioned about a check fraud scheme involving Tim
Montgomery, the father of her son Tim who himself was banned and
stripped of a 100-m world-record run based on evidence collected in
the BALCO probe.
-AFP
|
