Former state Sen. John Ford gets 5-1/2 years

Judge J. Daniel Breen handed down the decision Tuesday morning after continuing a sentencing hearing that began Monday afternoon. Ford will not have to pay a fine.

Ford, 64, argued he should face no more than 33 months in prison and that a pre-sentencing report by the U.S. Probation Office set sentencing guidelines that were excessive.

Ford, once one of the state’s most powerful senators, is one of five former lawmakers convicted of bribery or extortion in a statewide corruption investigation code named Tennessee Waltz.

He declined comment as he left the courtroom Tuesday, but the day before he apologized for his wrongdoing.

‘I accept the jury’s verdict and take full, total and complete responsibility for my actions,’ Ford said, holding a wadded up tissue with which he occasionally dabbed at his eyes.

Defense witnesses testifying at the hearing described Ford as a talented lawmaker, devoted father and faithful friend.

The Memphis Democrat, took the most bribe money by far of the Tennessee Waltz lawmakers and is the best known statewide. He is a member of one of Memphis’ most active political families and is the uncle of former congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr., who is currently chairman of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council.

Former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon, D-Memphis, is the only other Tennessee lawmaker convicted at trial and is serving a five-year prison sentence. The other lawmakers pleaded guilty. Two await sentencing and the other spent nine months in prison.

Ford, who spent three decades in the Senate, also faces unrelated federal charges in Nashville where he is accused of misreporting $800,000 in payments from contractors with TennCare.