The Stacked Sentences Official

A powerful city official sat on a county board whose job was to check and audit the county's bills. He was charged with wilfully failing to do that duty, a misdemeanour. One indictment charged 220 counts. Each misdemeanour carried at most one year in jail and a $250 fine. After a jury found him guilty, the judge stacked the terms into twelve years plus large fines. He says the jail time and fines could not be piled up this way.