Shortly after Berrigan took the bench, she made clear her intentions to dip below the guideline range.
"I must impose a sentence that I feel is sufficient but not greater than necessary," she said.
Nagin was not the leader of the conspiracy, she said, and he didn't coerce other participants -- city vendors and a top Nagin City Hall official who took plea deals and cooperated with prosecutors -- in the illegal schemes. She described co-conspirators Greg Meffert, the chief technology officer under Nagin, and businessman Frank Fradella as making first moves in some interactions. And, she noted, Nagin shared a much smaller share of the "profits" from the schemes.
But, she added, "the seriousness of Mr. Nagin's offenses can hardly be overstated."
"Nowhere is this more harmful than the city of New Orleans where the perception of public corruption stubbornly persists," the judge said.
During trial, prosecutors in U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite's office called Nagin a mayor "on the take." He sold his office, they told the jury, for personal gain, which included lavish trips, cash and granite for his sons business, Stone Age LLC.
The 10-year term matches that handed down to former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, who was convicted of corruption in 2000. It is less than the 13 years former Rep. William Jefferson got in his corruption case.
Notably, Nagin got a shorter term than the 17 years handed down to Fradella, the former CEO of disaster management firm Home Solutions of America who was convicted of conspiring to bribe Nagin with trips, cash and truckloads of granite. A different judge presided over Fradella's case.
Nagin and his defense lawyers left the federal courthouse without speaking to the crush of reporters who followed them out. Nagin's wife, Seletha Nagin, joined him for sentencing, as she did every day during the two-week trial.
Citing Nagin's inability to pay fines, the judge ordered Nagin to pay about $84,000 in restitution to the IRS.
