Saying that the defendant had offered no proof that he felt remorse for his crime, a New York prosecutor is asking a judge to send Dinesh D'Souza to jail for violating campaign finance laws.

D'Souza pled guilty to making straw donations to the 2012 United States Senate campaign of Wendy E. Long. He asked two friends and their wives to donate  the maximum to Long's campaign - $20,000 in all - and then reimbursed them, thus exceeding the $5,000 limit on donations per election cycle.

Considering all the chicanery conducted by the Obama campaigns of 2008 and 2012, where millions of dollars in illegal campaign contributions came in, the idea of sending D'Souza to jail for a $20,000 violation of the law is absurd and laughable.

New York Times:

In seeking a prison term for Mr. D’Souza, 53, the government disputed his lawyer’s contention in recent court papers that his client had “unequivocally accepted responsibility” for his crime.

“The defendant pled guilty at the last possible moment before trial began,” prosecutors wrote, “not because he actually accepted responsibility for his conduct, but because he was in fact guilty and he had no defense or excuse for his criminal conduct.”

“The defendant’s crime is serious and strikes at the heart of our federal election system,” prosecutors added.

The government had said Mr. D’Souza arranged in August 2012 to have two friends each donate $10,000 on behalf of themselves and their spouses to Ms. Long’s campaign, with the understanding that Mr. D’Souza would reimburse their contributions. That resulted in a contribution of $20,000, exceeding the $5,000 individual limit for the 2012 election cycle.

Before Mr. D’Souza pleaded guilty in May, his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, argued in court papers that prosecutors had targeted Mr. D’Souza “because of his consistently caustic and highly publicized criticism” of President Obama.

Judge Richard M. Berman of Federal District Court rejected the arguments. The government, in its sentencing memorandum, said Mr. D’Souza also continued after his plea to argue that he had been selectively prosecuted and it urged the judge to reject his claims of contrition.

Mr. Brafman on Wednesday said, “Any suggestion that Mr. D’Souza has not fully accepted responsibility for his criminal conduct is patently absurd.”

He asked this month that Mr. D’Souza be given probation, with the condition that he perform community service.

Mr. D’Souza, in a letter to the judge, said he had allowed his “affection for Wendy Long,” and his desire to help her, override his “good judgment and regard for the law.” He urged the judge to sentence him to community service. “No good purpose would be served by locking me up,” he wrote.

This is exactly what happens in banana republics. Political opponents are sent to jail on trumped up charges. While there's no doubt D'Souza violated the law, the scale of his offense compared to the Obama campaigns hiding millions of dollars from the FEC and several Democratic donors caught making excess contributions, is ridiculous. This New JUnfortunately for D'Souza, he belongs to the wrong party and criticized the wrong president.ersey Democrat got 2 years probation last year for committing exactly the same crime as D'Souza.

Unfortunately for D'Souza, he belongs to the wrong party and criticized the wrong president.