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 A jury in February found Nagin, a Democrat, guilty on charges
including bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and tax
evasion.
Nagin, 58, stirred national controversy with his erratic behavior
after Katrina breached floodwalls and inundated New Orleans in 2005,
killing at least 1,500 people and leaving tens of thousands
homeless.
Citing Nagin's devotion to family and commitment to helping New
Orleans, U.S. District Judge Helen Ginger Berrigan said a shorter
prison term than that recommended under federal sentencing
guidelines was warranted.
She ordered Nagin to turn himself in to begin serving his sentence
by Sept. 8. With good behavior, and barring any appeals, Nagin could
get out of prison after about 8-1/2 years.
Berrigan also ordered Nagin, who prosecutors say accepted bribes
valued at over $500,000, to pay about $84,000 in restitution to the
Internal Revenue Service.
Addressing reporters outside the courtroom, prosecutor Matthew
Coman, who had sought a stiffer sentence, thanked community members
who had come forward to help the prosecution build its case.
"What Ray Nagin did was sell his office," Coman said, as supporters
of the former mayor sought to shout him down.
During the 10-day trial, prosecutors portrayed Nagin as a mayor on
the take, granting favors for bribes that included tons of free
granite delivered to a kitchen countertop company he ran with his
sons.
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Nagin, a former cable TV executive elected in 2002 on a promise of
running an ethical government and re-elected four years later, made
no apologies in a brief courtroom statement in which he thanked the
judge for her professionalism. Nagin, who has never acknowledged
taking bribes, declined to comment as he left the courthouse.
His attorney, Robert Jenkins, said after February's guilty verdict
that Nagin would appeal his conviction.
Any appeal will likely be complicated by the defense not moving
during the trial to have the evidence against Nagin ruled too weak
for a conviction, said Herbert Larson, an expert on federal criminal
law at the Tulane University Law School.
Such motions are crucial for revisiting those arguments on appeal,
he said.
"I don't think there are many if any viable avenues for an appeal
for Ray Nagin," Larson said.
(Reporting by Kathy Finn; Writing by Jonathan Kaminsky; Editing by
Jim Loney and Eric Beech)
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