A judge should sentence a former state Senate leader for his extortion conviction to about 12 to 15 years in prison, federal prosecutors said in pre-sentencing submissions filed Monday.

Prosecutors said Republican ex-senator Dean Skelos and his son, Adam Skelos, should each face prison terms approaching or within federal sentencing guidelines, about 10 to 12 years for the son.

“At a time when the public’s trust in their government is at an all-time low, Dean and Adam Skelos — through their conduct and their words — have managed to lower the bar even further,” prosecutors said. “Judges have routinely relied on precisely this kind of public harm analysis in imposing substantial prison terms in similar cases.”

Skelos and his son are scheduled to be sentenced April 28. They were convicted in December after a jury agreed with prosecutors that Skelos had strong-armed three companies with a stake in state legislation into giving work to his son. The government said the businesses provided the son with about $300,000 and other benefits.

Besides the prison term, prosecutors asked that Skelos’ sentence include a “stiff and substantial fine” of more than $334,000.

“Through their crimes, Dean and Adam Skelos have fed the public’s worst fears and suspicions about their government: that our elected officials are not looking out for the public good, but instead looking out only for ways to turn the immense power entrusted in them into personal profit,” prosecutors said.

Skelos and his son, in their own submission last month, asked that they be spared from prison terms and instead be sentenced to probation.

A message seeking comment from Skelos’ attorney wasn’t immediately returned.

(AP)