FORMER JUDGE WILL DO 46 MONTHS IN PRISON

Sentence Exceeds What Prosecutors Requested

Ronald Bodenheimer, the former judge whose 2002 arrest opened a public
window into corruption at the Jefferson Parish Courthouse, was sentenced
Wednesday to almost four years in prison for multiple federal crimes.

Calling Bodenheimer's actions "appalling," U.S. District Judge Helen
"Ginger" Berrigan ordered him to prison for 46 months -- a month longer
than his tenure as a judge of 24th Judicial District Court in Gretna.

"Corruption in the judiciary is worse than corruption in any other branch
of government," Berrigan told the former jurist. "What you have done is
simply appalling."

"I agree," Bodenheimer said. "I'm as disappointed in my actions as you are.
You can't be more disgusted with me than I am with myself."

Outside court, Bodenheimer, a former prosecutor who sent five people to
death row and dozens others to life in prison before becoming a judge,
struck a more defensive tone.

"Ninety-nine percent of what I did as a judge was the right thing. One
percent was wrong, and for that I pleaded guilty and I have been punished,"
he said.

Bodenheimer left office Dec. 31, 2002, and pleaded guilty last year to
conspiring to plant drugs on a critic of activities at his Venetian Isles
Marina. He also admitted plotting to fix Al Copeland's child custody case
in his court, with the aim of gaining a seafood contract at the
multimillionaire businessman's restaurants. And he confessed to
manipulating bonds in favor of bail bonds mogul Louis Marcotte III in
exchange for dinners, trips and other things of value.

He will become the fourth judge in the state and the second in Jefferson
Parish to serve time in the past two decades, according to state Supreme
Court records. In 1996, 1st Parish Court Judge Bruce Naccari of Metairie
was sentenced to 18 months for wire fraud charges related to his family's
defunct insurance company.

All eight people charged so far in the government's five-year corruption
investigation of Gretna courthouse have pleaded guilty. Bodenheimer is the
fifth to be sentenced. But First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Maselli Mann
said more charges are expected, and that prosecutors might call Bodenheimer
as a witness against future defendants.

"He knows about additional information that he can help us with and that
has not become public," Mann said.

Caught in FBI probe

Now 51 years old and the father of five children, Bodenheimer had touted
his 20-year career as a tough-on-crime prosecutor to get elected judge over
state Rep. Jim Donelon, R-Metairie, in 1999. He spent a bit more than three
years on the bench and was preparing to seek re-election in 2002.

But that year on the night of June 5, FBI agents showed up at his house and
arrested him on charges of conspiring to plant the morphine-based drug
OxyContin in the vehicle of Eric Boe, a critic of Bodenheimer's Venetian
Isles Marina in eastern New Orleans. Boe had complained to the FBI and
other authorities about questionable activities at the marina, and the
bureau was eavesdropping on the judge's phone calls.

"You know this boy, the sad part about it is, he ain't got a shot, he ain't
got a chance, you know, he ain't gonna know what hit him," Bodenheimer,
discussing Boe, told an acquaintance in one phone call.

Within weeks, however, it became clear that the drug case was only a small
part of a much broader federal investigation examining the conduct of
Bodenheimer and other judges on the bench and allegations that Marcotte was
paying off judges and jailers to keep his virtual monopoly in the Jefferson
Parish bail bond industry. As part of the probe, FBI agents tapped phones
of Marcotte, Bodenheimer and state District Judge Alan Green. They also hid
video cameras in the chambers of Bodenheimer and Green, who has denied
wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

After his arrest, the Supreme Court suspended Bodenheimer as a judge but
let him keep the office for the rest of his term, through 2002, while the
case against him was pending.

He rejected a plea-bargain offer that would have sent him to prison for a
maximum of 2 1/2 years, but he did not seek re-election. Prosecutors piled
on additional indictments, and in 2003 Bodenheimer agreed to plead guilty
to three charges.

His sentencing date was postponed four times. But after Marcotte confessed
in March to a racketeering charge and agreed to provide details on his
dealings with other judges, Wednesday's sentencing date for Bodenheimer
stood firm. Marcotte's plea agreement, defense lawyer Vinny Mosca said,
gave prosecutors little reason to delay Bodenheimer's sentencing again.

"They got Marcotte now, so they are going to move on to other areas," said
Mosca, who is not representing anybody in the probe.

Stiff sentence

In sentencing Bodenheimer to 46 months in prison, the maximum suggested by
federal guidelines in his case, Berrigan exceeded by four months the term
that even the prosecutors recommended in his plea agreement. Berrigan said
she was particularly disturbed by the drug charge, because in it
Bodenheimer did not merely plot to distribute narcotics but tried to "frame
an innocent individual," tamper with a witness and obstruct justice.

"Considering you were a sitting judge and a former prosecutor and an
attorney, I consider it inexcusable," Berrigan said.

She said she was tempted to hand down a 57-month sentence. But she settled
on 46 months because the government asked her to consider Bodenheimer's
help in the investigation.

She also fined him $50,000 and said he will be on probation for three years
after completing his prison sentence. Bodenheimer will not receive credit
for the 22 months he has served under house arrest, Berrigan said after the
hearing.

Bodenheimer has until June 28 to begin serving his prison time. The U.S.
Bureau of Prisons will decide where to assign him, but Berrigan recommended
the minimum-security camp at Eglin Air Force Base near Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

Throughout the hearing, Bodenheimer appeared calm, standing at the podium
with his feet spread and his hands in his pants pockets as Berrigan
detailed his crimes.

Observing from the gallery were Boe and Luan Hunter, Copeland's ex-wife and
the purported victim of Bodenheimer's case-fixing. Both have pending civil
suits against Bodenheimer.

Bodenheimer did not address them in the courtroom proceedings. Boe spoke
briefly, thanking FBI agents for their efforts and Berrigan for giving
Bodenheimer a stiffer sentence than proposed in the plea agreement. Hunter
declined comment.

Former federal prosecutor Shaun Clarke said the higher sentence was no
surprise, considering that Bodenheimer was a public official when he
committed his crimes.

"Marcotte may be more important in the grand scheme of things, but he's
also a bondsman. Bodenheimer was a sitting judge," Clarke said.

Commenting publicly for the first time since his 2002 arrested, Bodenheimer
said: "It's been a long two years. I'm glad it's over with." Bodenheimer
permanently surrendered his law license last year, but he said on the
courthouse steps that he will return from prison to "do something
productive for society."

"I'm not going to prison to die," he said.

With that, he shook the hands of a few FBI agents who had investigated him
and left.