Feds say sentencing guidelines for Ruth Arnao should be 9 - 11 years. But don't expect a sentence anything close to that.

Update: 7/21/09 12:24 p.m. Judge Ronald Buckwalter sentenced Ruth Arnao to one year and one day in prison today. She is to report for prison on Aug 31.

Update: 7/21/09 10:05 a.m. Philly.com live blogging Arnao sentencing hearing.

(Ruth Arnao’s sentencing hearing. Tuesday, July 21at 10:00 a.m. U.S. District Court, Philadelphia. Courtroom 14A)

How much time will Ruth Arnao spend in jail?

That is the big question after her co-defendant Vincent Fumo was sentenced last week far below the sentencing guidelines. For Fumo, the suggested sentence range was 11-14 years. Judge Ronald Buckwalter said Fumo’s hard work as a state Senator deserved recognition and dropped the sentence to 4 years and 7 months.

Ruth Arnao was convicted along with Fumo in March. She was found guilty on all 45 counts which under the sentencing guidelines the feds say call for 108-135 months in jail for her crimes. That converts to roughly 9 to 11 years behind bars.

As we saw last week in the Fumo sentence, the guidelines are non binding. The guidelines are there to try to keep some form of sanity between the crimes committed and the time behind bars but a judge can ignore them.

You can already see that, if Buckwalter accepts the the prosecutors guidelines, that Ruth Arnao would spend more time in jail than the man who masterminded the looting of the non-profit Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods where Arnao served as executive director.

No one, not even the feds, believe that Ruth Arnao will get a lengthy sentence. In a recent filing, the U.S. Attorney’s office says it would be satisfied if it got 70-87 months for Arnao. That breaks down to more like 5-7 years in prison.

The feds say the lower numbers are “Based on the Court’s earlier findings” which approximates Judge Buckwalter’s rejection of the feds initial calculation for Fumo’s sentence of 21-27 years which he lowered to 11-14 years.

So, in plain English, the feds are revising down their expectations for tomorrow’s sentencing for Arnao.

Since, Fumo got 4 years, 7 months in jail. Arnao can’t possibly get more than 4 years.

The other thing to remember is that even though Judge Buckwalter said the federal sentencing guidelines for Fumo were 11-14 years, he was overwhelmed by outpouring of love as evidenced by Fumo’s fan mail and was moved to sentence way below the minimum sentence.

So, I’m taking my lead from the feds. Lower your expectations and the less mad you’ll be. To emotionally prepare myself for Buckwalter’s sentence. I’ve taken the feds lowered expectations of 5-7 years and cut that in half.  It makes sense in Fumo World a/k/a “the OPM Den” where good character and hard work still count for something. She worked for a non-profit and that must mean she had good intentions.

So, under that divine inspiration I’d say Ruth Arnao will get 3 years in jail.

Now it’s your turn. How long do you think Arnao will be sentenced to prison?

If you need a reminder of her crimes, I’ve put together a list of the 45 counts that she was found guilty of.  Click here.