Huntley Sentenced to One Year in Prison

This article was written by C. Zawadi Morris.

Former state Sen. Shirley Huntley was sentenced yesterday to one year and one day in prison for stealing from a nonprofit organization that she ran, The New York Times reported.   

However, at the sentencing hearing, Huntley’s lawyer told the judge that his client, a 74-year-old Queens Democrat, currently was working with federal officials to build evidence against other lawmakers, including Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, Huntley’s lead prosecutor.  And her attorney suggested she had seen other senators carrying suitcases of cash into the state Capitol.
The judge expressed no interest in addressing Huntley’s pending case against Schneiderman, but called some of the information Huntley provided “implausible.”   

At the hearing, Huntley sat between her lawyer and her husband while she read a short statement, saying her actions “embarrassed my family, my friends and my community.”   

“It’s no surprise that the criminal is angry at the prosecutor,” wrote a spokesman for Schneiderman in a statement. “But Huntley’s lies should not distract from the fact that today justice was served.”