Albany, NY – Joseph L. Bruno was sentenced today to two years in prison for devising a scheme to secretly enrich himself during a 14-year reign as state Senate majority leader.U.S. District Court Judge Gary L. Sharpe handed down the long-awaited sentence in a tense courtroom packed with Bruno’s supporters and the federal authorities who worked more than four years to convict him.

“The problem with probation is that it doesn’t send a message to the public that your criminal conduct here is serious,” Sharpe told Bruno.

He also noted a lack of contrition in the lengthy address Bruno delivered before his sentence.

“I know you don’t believe you did anything wrong which is why I didn’t here one word of contrition here.”

Bruno spoke for more than 30 minutes in an address that touch on his hardscrabble upbringing.

“In my heart and in my mind I did nothing wrong. Nothing!” the 81-year-old Republican told Sharpe. “Maybe I used bad judgment. Maybe I was a little cavalier in the way I handled my business judgments.”

“I would like to help you understand why I went into public service. I didn’t have to go into public service. I had a job. I had a business. We were doing extremely well.”

The judge told Bruno he will remain free until he is told to report to a federal prison yet to be designated by the Bureau of Prisons. The facility where Bruno is placed will be based on an analysis by federal prison authorities of his crimes, background and any considerations to keep Bruno in a facility close to his family, most of whom live in the Capital Region.

Before the sentence was imposed, the U.S. attorney’s office asked the judge to sentence Bruno to eight years in prison.

The stunning conviction of Bruno on two felony charges came after a six-week trial and seven days of deliberations by a jury that deadlocked at one point on whether to convict him at all.

The sentencing took place even as the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to rule whether the federal honest services statute used to convict Bruno is unconstitutional, or, may have been misapplied in similar prosecutions.

If the Supreme Court throws out the statute Bruno will be absolved of his conviction. If the court finds the statute was misapplied in circumstances unique to the two unrelated cases then the conviction would stand pending any appeal.

(Read More: Times Union)