Gun control advocate Leland Yee was sentenced today to five years in prison during court proceedings Wednesday in a case that District Judge Charles Breyer referred to the defendant as “hypocritical.” Yee was elected to the position of Senator in California back in 2006 after his run as assemblyman of the state’s 12th district. Prosecutors charged Yee in 2014 after an undercover FBI sting revealed the Senator had not only promised votes and influential positions in return for campaign contributions, but also offered to introduce a client to an arms dealer who could illegally smuggle weapons into the country supplied by a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines, including shoulder-fired missiles.
In the months following his arrest, the California Senate adopted resolutions banning members from accepting contributions from fundraising during critical months, appointed an ethics ombudsman, and instituted new protocols protecting whistle-blowers.
During his time as an assemblyman for California’s 12th district, Yee sponsored the 2005 law AB 1179, banning the sale of violent games to minors and imposing strict fines on retailers for each violation. The law was challenged in district court and shut down by Judge Whyte, ruling that the law violated first amendment protections of free speech. The ruling was challenged in California’s 9th District Court of Appeals, who ruled against the law due to its obscure definition of “violent.” California challenged the 9th District’s ruling, taking the case up to the Supreme Court where in 2011, Supreme Court Justices ruled 7-2 against the state.
(Source: LA Times)
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