Judge Angrily Grants Moriarty Sentence Cut

A federal judge angrily rejected a move Monday to cut in half the seven-year prison term of convicted political corrupter W. Patrick Moriarty, but reluctantly agreed to reduce the sentence to five years to help sustain a continuing government investigation.

U.S. District Judge William J. Rea made no secret of his unhappiness as he scolded federal prosecutors for putting him in “an awful position” by arguing that a reduction of Moriarty’s sentence was needed to reward him for cooperating in the ongoing political corruption probe.

“What the government is doing here is vigorously prosecuting and convicting a person for bribery and corruption of public officials, then saying, ‘Now go easy on him because he’s helped convict some of the people he bribed,”’ Rea told Chief Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard E. Drooyan.

Stressing that he factored a promise of cooperation with the government into Moriarty’s original seven-year prison term, Rea said he failed to see “what has changed” since he imposed the sentence in January, 1986, adding:

“It troubles me the court is put in a position where the court must impose leniency just so the government can prosecute other cases. That’s the situation the court finds itself in, and it isn’t very pleasant. . . . If this is what it’s come to in this country, then God help us all.”

Listening as the judge delivered his tough courtroom lecture were a grim-faced Moriarty, his wife, Doreen, and all six of Moriarty’s children.

Only minutes after the tense courtroom scene, Mrs. Moriarty collapsed in a hallway and was taken to a nearby nurse’s office in the U.S. Courthouse where she was quickly revived with smelling salts. Several of Moriarty’s children were in tears.

Moriarty’s lawyers had requested the sentence reduction last month on the basis of Moriarty’s help in convicting three former California politicians--former Norwalk Assemblyman Bruce E. Young, Long Beach City Councilman James Wilson and Carson City Councilman Walter (Jake) Egan--on corruption charges.

The defense proposal was that Rea reduce Moriarty’s sentence to 36 months in federal custody in a Garden Grove halfway house, with credit for nine months already served, where Moriarty would be able to consult easily with investigators and be “safe” from other federal prisoners.

Agreeing with the defense that Moriarty deserved early release, Drooyan proposed a rival plan which would have permitted the former Orange County fireworks manufacturer to spend only 21 more months in custody, most of it in prison.

Within minutes of Monday’s hearing, however, it was clear that Rea was angered by both proposals.

“Don’t even mention the halfway house proposal, because that’s so far away from anything I have in mind,” he warned defense lawyers Jan Lawrence Handzlik and Marshall Morgan. But the judge did not bar the government from keeping Moriarty in the halfway house.

On several occasions during the heated, hourlong courtroom debate over Moriarty’s future, Drooyan openly pleaded with the judge to grant some reduction of sentence to help the government continue its corruption inquiry.

“Over the last two years, I’ve come to know Mr. Moriarty as well as anybody,” Drooyan said at one point. “He is a gregarious, likeable individual. I think incarceration has taught him some lessons.

“If there is no reduction in this case, it will severely impact the government’s ability to proceed in this investigation,” Drooyan added.

Rea responded that the prosecutor had said the same thing at Moriarty’s original sentencing. At that time, the judge said, he decided against a tougher sentence only because he thought it was understood that the seven-year sentence “anticipated” Moriarty’s cooperation.

Rea continued his exchanges with lawyers on both sides as they unsuccessfully sought to convince him that he was being too harsh in his views about Moriarty. When Handzlik suggested he needed to “send a message to others who might come forward,” the judge responded:

“What about the other message I can send? Maybe it will discourage people from committing bribery and corrupting public officials?

“I’m here, I guess, representing the general population,” Rea added. “What does the public want? Do they expect the court to protect them against people like Moriarty undermining the very fabric of our society?

“How do we stop them?” Rea continued. “Not by letting them off easy.”

After Rea’s reluctant decision to nonetheless reduce Moriarty’s sentence to five years, Handzlik said, “We are deeply disappointed that the judge did not give greater recognition to Mr. Moriarty’s cooperation. Nonetheless, Mr. Moriarty will continue to cooperate with the government.”

Handzlik observed that under the five-year reduced sentence, Moriarty will be eligible for parole in 11 months and cannot serve more than another 27 months in custody before being freed.