A federal judge Friday sentenced a former state auditor general to six years in prison for racketeering and tax fraud related to ``a sickening pattern of soliciting, accepting and paying bribes.'' Al Benedict, a one-time gubernatorial hopeful, also was fined $20,000 by U.S. Middle District Senior Judge Malcolm Muir, who said the sentence was intended as a deterrent for other public officials. The judge ordered Benedict to surrender to U.S. marshals on March 14. Benedict, 58, pleaded guilty last month to charges of racketeering and tax fraud. The racketeering charge encompassed 10 state bribery-related charges, which the government said occurred between April 1976 and November 1984. Benedict acknowledged accepting bribes in return for hiring and promoting state workers and for awarding no-bid contracts. He also admitted making a $6,000 payoff to a lawmaker in return for a bigger state appropriation for his department. ``I could never express to you how I feel ... the pain, suffering, embarrassment, humiliation,'' Benedict said in court. ``All I can attempt to do is atone for my transgressions and sins.'' Benedict refused to answer reporters' questions as he left the courthouse. His lawyer, Arthur Goldberg, said Benedict was surprised but not angered by the sentence. He could have been sentenced to up to 23 years in prison and $125,000 in fines. Federal prosecutors asked for a light sentence, citing Benedict's cooperation in a continuing investigation of state-government corruption. The defense, in a memorandum filed by Goldberg, asked for a one-year sentence with early parole and a term of public service. The memorandum portrays Benedict, a former television commentator who became de facto head of the state Democratic Party during two terms as auditor general, as a broken, humiliated man. It also places the blame for Benedict's predicament on his former top aide, John Kerr, who was convicted of masterminding the job-selling scheme. Kerr was sentenced to two to five years in prison and remains free on bail. He led investigators to Benedict late in 1986. Among the spectators at the sentencing was Joanne Dwyer, widow of state Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer. Her husband killed himself during a news conference last year, one day before he was to be sentenced by Muir on bribery-conspiracy charges. She criticized the plea-bargaining system that allowed Benedict to shorten his prison term and said her husband never got a chance to bargain because he was innocent and had been framed.
