Rapper T.I. gets a year-and-a-day federal sentence on gun charges

I have not followed closely the crime and possible punishment of Clifford Harris, aka rap star T.I.  But today was his sentencing, and this early AP story provides the basics:

A judge has sentenced Rapper T.I. to one year and a day behind bars on federal weapons charges. The 28-year-old rapper, whose real name is Clifford Harris, was sentenced Friday.

He will have between 30 and 60 days to report to prison.  He already has completed about 1,000 hours of community service and has warned youths about the pitfalls of guns, drugs, violence. He will need to complete 470 more hours.  Harris pleaded guilty last March after he was arrested in 2007, attempting to buy unregistered machine guns and silencers.

Because I have not kept up with this case, I am not sure what the applicable guideline range that T.I. was facing.  I do know, however, that in the mixed-up world that is federal sentencing, a prison term of one year and a day is actually better than a sentence of, say, 11 months because it means that Harris will be eligible for good-time credits that could entail he servers only just over 10 months actually behind bars.

UPDATE:  I just found this AJC article providing useful back-story on the deal that led to this sentence: 

Federal sentencing guidelines recommended T.I. serve at least four years and nine months behind bars. But T.I.’s defense team worked out an unheard of deal with federal prosecutors: If T.I. would perform at least 1,000 hours of community service, telling kids about the pitfalls of crime, drugs and gangs and encouraging them to respect the law, he could surrender to the Bureau of Prisons a year later and get a reduced sentence.

Area criminal defense lawyers howled in protest, saying T.I. traded his celebrity for leniency. Federal prosecutors countered the rapper’s influential message would help prevent crime.   T.I. has fulfilled his part of the bargain, said Steve Sadow, one of the rapper’s lawyers. “T.I. took this opportunity and ran with it beyond anyone’s expectations.”

A sentencing memorandum filed Wednesday by T.I.’s defense team says the rapper has complied with all the requirements of his plea agreement. This includes serving 300 days of home confinement, attending more than 260 events and earning 1,006 hours of community service credit.