[JURIST] Former Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell [Wikipedia profile] was sentenced to 2 1/2 years imprisonment Tuesday for three tax evasion charges on which he was convicted in March [JURIST report]. Judge Richard Story of the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia [official website] also ordered Campbell to pay $62,823 in unpaid taxes and $6,300 in fines. Campbell, who served as mayor from 1994 to 2002, was charged [DOJ indictment summary, PDF] in 2004 with taking bribes of more than $160,000 in exchange for city contracts during his administration. A jury acquitted him, however, of federal bribery and racketeering charges, prompting his attorneys to attack the tax evasion charges as an end-run around the other verdicts.

Campbell, who faced imprisonment up to nine years, was the focus of a seven-year investigation by the US Attorney's Office in Atlanta [official website] that resulted in convictions of 10 other city officials. AP has more. WSB-TV has local coverage.