Ex-Rep. Swindall Gets a Year in Jail : Georgia Republican Fined $30,000 for Lying to Grand Jury

Former U.S. Rep. Pat Swindall was sentenced to one year in prison today for lying to a federal grand jury about a loan he negotiated with an undercover agent posing as a drug-money launderer.

U.S. District Judge Richard C. Freeman also imposed a $30,000 fine plus a $450 fee against Swindall, who was convicted on nine counts of perjury in June.

The prison term was 12 months on each count to run concurrently.

Swindall, a two-term Republican from Atlanta’s eastern suburbs, spoke to the judge for about half an hour in rambling remarks that frequently touched on issues in the trial. But Freeman told him several times that this was not the place to retry his case.

“I stand before you in all humility,” he told the judge at one point. Freeman interrupted him, saying, “You don’t know the meaning of humility, Mr. Swindall. I thought you were beginning to learn it, but I’m afraid you’re not.”

After the judge imposed the sentence, Swindall smiled and shook hands with his attorneys. The judge said the former representative will remain free on his own recognizance pending an appeal of the conviction.

Swindall later told reporters he thought the sentence was proper for someone guilty of perjury.

“I have no complaints whatsoever. The problem I have is not the length of the sentence, but whether it should have been imposed at all,” he said.

When U.S. Atty. Robert Barr was asked if the government was satisfied with the relatively light sentence, he replied, “It’s not really up to us to be satisfied. We thought a more lengthy sentence was called for.”

The judge recommended that Swindall serve his sentence at a minimum-security federal prison camp in Atlanta.

Evidence in his trial showed that Swindall repeatedly talked with the undercover agent and a political associate as he was seeking $850,000 to finish his luxurious Stone Mountain home, even after a time when he told the grand jury he had “walked away” from the proposed deal.

Swindall lost a bid for reelection last year to Democrat Ben Jones while under the cloud of his perjury indictment.