Former Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price will likely only spend 40 months behind bars, almost two years less than he was originally sentenced.

When he will have to report was also delayed when a hearing to consider the sentence reduction scheduled for Wednesday was continued until Sept. 29. Price has been allowed to remain free to assist in his case.

The former mayor pleaded guilty last year to failing to honest services mail fraud and tax evasion for failing to report the income he received in the form of trips and gifts from individuals doing business with the city and misusing campaign finances.

EDDIE PRICE

As part of his deal he resigned from his position as mayor.

In June of this year, District Judge Martin Feldman sentenced Price to 64 months for the mail fraud, and 60 months on the tax evasion charges. The two sentences were to be served concurrently, meaning Price would have had to spend more than 5 years behind bars.

Feldman ordered Price to surrender himself at the federal prison camp authorities by noon Aug. 12.

However, in light of the Supreme Court decision in the case of Enron CEO Jeff Skilling and its effect on Price’s conviction for honest services fraud, Price’s attorney, Ralph Whalen, requested Feldman reconsider Price’s sentence.

The two sides were scheduled to present their sides at the hearing scheduled for Wednesday. That same day Whalen and Fred Harper, assistant United States Attorney, filed a joint motion stating that they have came to an agreement to reduce the sentence to 40 months.

The two sides said in the motion that in weighing the seriousness of the offense, the need “to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct considering Price’s high-profile position” and the “prolonged nature” of the fraud, with the impact of the Skilling ruling, they agree that 40 months would be an appropriate sentence.

Feldman has not accepted this motion. It is unknown if he will do so prior to the Sept. 29 hearing or wait until then to do so.

It is also unknown if the new sentence will effect where Price will serve his time.

In pleading guilty to the federal charges Price admitted to accepting lavish trips and gifts from Rick Meyer of Meyer Engineers, which does much of the engineering work for the city; and Don McMath, a major developer in Mandeville.

According to a bill of factual information issued from U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s Office at the time of his conviction, Price admitted using campaign funds for personal uses, including the purchase of clothing and food and the repaying of golfing bet debts. He did not report these items on his campaign finance reports filed with the state Ethics Board and did not report the additional income he received in the form of gifts from Meyer and McMath on his tax returns.

Letten’s office began investigating Price after a scathing report from the Legislative Auditor’s Office, which in late 2008 accused the then mayor of misusing public funds.

The former mayor also facing state perjury charges stemming from testimony he gave in former Speedy Oil Change Owner Gary Copp’s aggravated battery trial. He is set to go to trial on that case on Oct.11 after Whalen was unsuccessful in having those charges thrown out.