Langford Rejected Plea Deal

Oh well, life is about choices and one can speculate that the charismatic Langford convinced himself he could pull one more rabbit out of the hat, either that really believed all of the payoffs and kickbacks were okay:

Larry Langford rejected a plea deal with federal prosecutors that would have given him just a few years in prison, defense attorney Glennon Threatt said this morning.
Threatt, appearing on WJLD radio's Morning Talk this morning, told radio host Gary Richardson that rumors of a plea offer were true.


"He maintained that he wasn't guilty and Larry got angry," Threatt said on 1400 AM and 104.1 FM. Threatt said the former Birmingham mayor refused terms of the deal that required him to admit abusing his power as an elected official.Threatt said he believed Langford could have received less than five years in prison under the deal.

Isn't his conviction vindication for Alice Martin? In other news Langford may have dug the hole deeper with his rant after conviction:

Federal judges can increase a criminal defendant's sentence for a lack of remorse or to promote respect for the law, and Langford was hardly contrite during his statements to reporters just moments after his trial ended with a sweeping rebuke last week.

Langford mischaracterized the evidence against him more than once, claiming two main witnesses testified they never gave him anything. The two men actually told of showering Langford with checks, clothes and jewelry worth thousands.

Langford was just getting started. He went on for about 20 minutes, blaming racism and the media for his conviction. He accused jurors of sleeping during the trial and failing to look at the evidence. He said the government was out to get him.

"Hitler wasn't treated this bad," Langford's wife, Melva, said."Jeffrey Dahmer wasn't treated this bad," added Langford.Glennon F. Threatt Jr., one of two defense attorneys for the ex-mayor, fears the rant could mean additional time behind bars for Langford.

"I don't want it to because he is my client. But if I were a federal judge I would not want people out there saying the system is racist and they were treated worse than Hitler," Threatt said.

Langford, 63, faces what Threatt said is a likely sentence of 12 to 15 years imprisonment after being convicted on 60 felony charges including bribery, fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and filing false tax returns. He's already agreed to forfeit $241,000 because of the conviction.

Guilty on 60 counts.