Federal prosecutors say a former Arkansas treasurer convicted of steering state investments to a broker who gave her cash should be sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison.
In court papers filed Monday, they argue that a lesser sentence could send the message that public officials are above the law.
Prosecutors said that the sentence backed by former Treasurer Martha Shoffner's attorneys in her bribery and extortion conviction was too lenient. Shoffner's attorneys say she should get 12 to 18 months, with half in home detention.
Shoffner, a Democrat, was convicted last year of accepting $36,000 from a bond broker in exchange for steering state investments to his firm. She resigned in 2013, days after the FBI said she accepted cash in a pie box at her Newport home.
