DOCUMENT: Celebrity, Sports

Marion Jones Seeks Prison Pass

Ex-athlete wants probation, says she's already suffered enough

View Document

Marion Jones Seeks Prison Pass

JANUARY 2--Claming she has already been 'cast from American hero to national disgrace,' former track and field star (and convicted liar) Marion Jones wants to be spared prison when she is sentenced next week.

In a December 31 court filing, Jones, 32, argues that she instead deserves probation for her felony plea to lying to federal investigators probing steroid distribution and an unrelated bank fraud scheme. In a pre-sentencing memorandum, a copy of which you'll find here, Jones's lawyers contend that she has already 'suffered enormous personal shame, anguish, and embarrassment,' and has been 'stripped of her gold medals, her accomplishments, her wealth and her public standing.'

According to federal guidelines, Jones is facing a range of 0 to six months in prison when she is sentenced January 11 in U.S. District Court in White Plains, N.Y.. (12 pages)