Monica
Conyers
disrupts
courtroom
as judge
hands
down 37
month
prison
sentence
By
Karen H.
Samuels/Tell
Us
Detroit
“I’m not
going to
jail for
something
I did
not do”,
the
words of
former
Councilwoman
Monica
Conyers
filled
the
federal
courtroom
of U.S.
District
Court
Judge
Avery
during
sentencing
proceedings
Wednesday
in
Detroit.
In a
surprise
move
Conyers
asked
the
court to
withdraw
her
guilty
plea of
conspiring
to
commit
bribery
in
exchange
for her
vote on
a
contract
with
Synagro
Technologies.
Despite
the
request
the
Judge
sentenced
Conyers
to a 37
month
sentence
she is
set to
begin
serving
July
1st.
Conyers
told the
court
she
would
appeal
the
sentence
and has
ten days
to make
her
case.
As the
final
chapter
of the
storied
political
career
of
Monica
Conyers’
came to
a close,
Judge
Cohn
said her
record
of
public
service
held her
to a
higher
standard
and that
her
behavior
“fell
woefully
short”.
Conyers
apologized
to her
family
for
causing
them
embarrassment
said
Detroit
resident
Dolores
D.
Kanoyton
who was
in the
courtroom.
Kanoyton
said
Conyers
emotions
appeared
to
escalate
along
with her
voice
when she
said
“What
will
happen
to my
sons?”
Kanoyton
observed
relatives
sobbing
and said
Conyers’
minister
and
family
had to
calm
Monica
down
following
the
Judge’s
reading
of the
37 month
sentence.
Video by
Andre
Ash/Tell
Us
Detroit
Before
the
proceedings
began
Conyers
entered
the
courtroom
and went
to the
back
door
looking
for
family
members
who she
waved in
from the
crowd
assembled
outside
courtroom.
By 2:00
PM
Conyers
stood
with her
legal
team
before
Judge
Cohn and
spoke
before
the
court
saying
she has
tapes
that
show she
is not
guilty
of
bribery.
Detroit
resident
Kanoyton
said
Conyers
was
quite
vocal in
her
ascertain
of not
serving
time in
jail for
something
she
didn’t
do.
In the
end it
was the
“abuse
of her
office
for
self-enrichment”
that
brought
down the
former
Detroit
City
Councilwoman
whose
confrontations
and
volatile
behavior
often
defined
her time
in
office.
