Rep. Conyers's wife to stay in prison

A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Rep. John Conyers Jr.'s (D-Mich.) wife, Monica Conyers, must serve out the remainder of her 37-month sentence in prison rather than at home.

Conyers is incarcerated in a federal prison in West Virginia after having pleaded guilty in March 2010 to accepting at least $6,000 in bribes while she was serving on the Detroit City Council. The bribes were connected to a deal to bring a $1.2-billion sludge disposal plant to Detroit.

Conyers has since attempted to retract the guilty plea.

According to the Detroit News, Conyers asked the court on April 11 to release her to serve her sentence out at home because she said the court, in its sentencing, had “failed to consider her age, education, work skills, employment record, family ties and likihood [sic] she would commit another crime."

But U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn replied that his court lacked the ability to modify her sentence because her case had already been appealed.

"The court lacks jurisdiction to modify defendant's sentence," Cohn wrote.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Gaedeke predicted on Monday that the court would not allow Conyers to be released and said the court had not erred in its sentencing.

"This court did not commit any error in sentencing Conyers and in any case, it lacks jurisdiction to reconsider a sentence that has become final and has been appealed,” Gaedeke told the Detroit Free Press.