WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Olympian sprinter Marion Jones on Friday received six months in prison and two years of community service for lying about steroid use and her involvement in a check-fraud scheme, completing a fall from grace as stunning as her ascent as one of the world's most celebrated athletes.
U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Karas said that he had considered probation or home detention for Jones, who has two young children and has been publicly repentant. Jones voluntarily gave up her five Olympic medals in December after confessing in court two months before to using banned drugs.
But the judge decided that her sentence must send a pointed message.
"There is a very strong argument that incarceration may make others think twice and show that no one is above the legal obligation to tell the truth," Karas said.
Karas asked lawyers last week if he could go beyond the recommended six-month sentence negotiated in a plea deal because the charges stemmed from perjury in two separate federal investigations, but both sides advised him against it. The judge said that he had doubts that Jones had been fully forthcoming about the extent of her drug use, especially whether she knew that the substance her trainer told her was flaxseed oil was in fact a banned performance-enhancing drug.
"Its very difficult to believe that a top-notch athlete, knowing that a razor-thin margin makes the difference, would not be keenly aware and very careful about what he or she put into her body," he said.
But instead of a longer sentence, Karas decided to have Jones use her strong personality and high profile to get the message out to kids that it is wrong to cheat, and wrong to lie about cheating. After her release, Jones, a former standout at Oxnard Rio Mesa and Thousand Oaks highs, must spend 400 hours each year for two years doing community service.
Addressing the court before the sentencing, Jones stood with her head bowed and tears tracking her face, a posture that darkly echoed her stance on the Olympic dais in the 2000 Sydney Games in which she won three gold medals and two bronzes.
"I absolutely realize the gravity of the offenses I've committed, and I am deeply sorry," she said. She began to cry as she pleaded with the judge to not separate her from her 4-year-old son and 7-month-old baby, whom she is still nursing.
