Schaden Freuding Itself

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Hah!

Saying that Dinesh D’Souza had not yet accepted responsibility for his crime, prosecutors asked a federal judge in Manhattan on Wednesday to sentence the best-selling conservative author and filmmaker to 10 to 16 months in prison for violating campaign finance laws.

The request by the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, comes before Mr. D’Souza’s scheduled Sept. 23 sentencing for illegally making donations through straw donors to the 2012 United States Senate campaign of Wendy E. Long, a Republican candidate who was challenging Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, a Democrat.

In seeking a prison term for Mr. D’Souza, 53, the government disputed his lawyer’s contention in recent court papers that his client had “unequivocally accepted responsibility” for his crime.

“The defendant pled guilty at the last possible moment before trial began,” prosecutors wrote, “not because he actually accepted responsibility for his conduct, but because he was in fact guilty and he had no defense or excuse for his criminal conduct.”

“The defendant’s crime is serious and strikes at the heart of our federal election system,” prosecutors added.

The government had said Mr. D’Souza arranged in August 2012 to have two friends each donate $10,000 on behalf of themselves and their spouses to Ms. Long’s campaign, with the understanding that Mr. D’Souza would reimburse their contributions. That resulted in a contribution of $20,000, exceeding the $5,000 individual limit for the 2012 election cycle.

Before Mr. D’Souza pleaded guilty in May, his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, argued in court papers that prosecutors had targeted Mr. D’Souza “because of his consistently caustic and highly publicized criticism” of President Obama.

Judge Richard M. Berman of Federal District Court rejected the arguments. The government, in its sentencing memorandum, said Mr. D’Souza also continued after his plea to argue that he had been selectively prosecuted and it urged the judge to reject his claims of contrition.

Mr. Brafman on Wednesday said, “Any suggestion that Mr. D’Souza has not fully accepted responsibility for his criminal conduct is patently absurd.”

He asked this month that Mr. D’Souza be given probation, with the condition that he perform community service.

Mr. D’Souza, in a letter to the judge, said he had allowed his “affection for Wendy Long,” and his desire to help her, override his “good judgment and regard for the law.” He urged the judge to sentence him to community service. “No good purpose would be served by locking me up,” he wrote.

A version of this article appears in print on September 11, 2014, on page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: Prosecutors Advocating Prison Time For D’Souza.

They should throw the book all his rancid America-hating books at him. DVDs are excellent tools of justice as well. Like Frisbees® w/ an edge.