At a re-sentencing hearing Friday in Federal Court for former Sheriff Billy Long, he got 33 months shaved off his sentence.
He initially was given a 168-month prison term by Judge Sandy Mattice, but a federal appeals court said one aspect of the sentencing was incorrect.
The new term is 135 months.
The former sheriff was initially sentenced in November 2008.
In both cases, Judge Mattice gave him the minimum in his sentencing range. Initially, he was at 168-210 months. This time it had dropped to 135-168 months.
But the judge hit his "betrayal of the public trust" and his "damage to the community."
He said, "I have no choice but to send as strong a message as I can."
The appeals court said Long was assigned a higher amount of illegal drugs than he should have and that pushed him into a higher sentencing range than he should have.
He entered guilty pleas to 19 counts of extortion, six counts of money laundering, one count of providing a firearm to a felon and one count of possession of cocaine.
Federal agents were monitoring interaction between Long and funeral director Eugene Overstreet on proposed drug deals by the sheriff.
Attorney Jerry Summers hit "entrapment" by Overstreet and the government and cited the defendant's military service. He said he lost over $440,000 in pension benefits due to the conviction.
He asked for the minimum sentence the judge could give of 120 months.
Prosecutor Perry Piper said Long "said some horrible things" on tapes the government secretly made. He said, "The damage he did far outweighs the good things he did."
Long watched the re-sentencing via video-teleconferencing.
Attorney Summers said he initially was in a prison in Arizona and is now in Wisconsin.
Long, who had a white beard and mustache, recently turned 60.
A group of family members, including his wife, was in the second row.