Pre-sentencing skirmish in Connecticut

This news story from Connecticut reports on an interesting skirmish between defense counsel and federal prosecutors in the run up to a high-profile fraud sentencing scheduled for this week:

Lawyers for former construction executive William A. Tomasso accused the U.S. attorney's office Monday of unnecessarily making public disputed evidence in an effort to pressure a judge to impose harsh sentences on two key figures in the Rowland administration bid-rigging case.  The last-minute legal papers filed Monday afternoon by Tomasso lawyers Thomas J. Murphy and James T. Cowdery are critical of tactics used by federal prosecutors in the days leading to today's scheduled sentencing of Tomasso and Peter N. Ellef, former Gov. John G. Rowland's co-chief of staff, for bribery and tax fraud.

Additional background on this case can be found in articles from the New York Times and the AP.

UPDATE: This AP story now tells the rest of the story:

A federal judge has sentenced a former top aide to Governor Rowland and a contractor who bribed him to two and a-half years in prison for corruption.... Judge Peter Dorsey gave credit to Ellef for his military service and civic works.  But he also said he must impose a sentence that makes it clear that people in power have to be totally honest when acting for the community. Tomasso was sentenced early this afternoon and was given the exact same sentence [as] Ellef, [includings] three years probation and a $15,000 fine.