\\\"Cold Cash\\\" Gets 13 Years

Former Democratic Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana, infamous for having $90,000 in bribe money hidden in his freezer, was sentenced to 13 years in prison today after being convicted on a slew of federal corruption charges.

Jefferson's sentence was the harshest ever handed out to a former lawmaker, but Justice Department officials said Jefferson warranted such a severe sanction because of the unprecedented scale of his corruption. Jefferson appeared in court Friday afternoon in a black suit and a red tie, with his five daughters, his wife and his brother.

U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis III , who presided over the trial and sentencing, said that "public corruption is a cancer on the body politic" and later added that "public corruption is a cancer and needs to be surgically removed. "