The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has declined to further reduce the prison sentence for former Sheriff Billy Long.
He was initially sentenced by Federal Judge Sandy Mattice to serve 168 months in federal prison after his conviction on a variety of charges related to his involvement with Eugene Overstreet.
That was later cut to 135 months based on a higher court ruling that a certain portion of the sentence was incorrectly computed.
The new ruling was included in an eight-page written opinion.
The appeals court noted that the sentence given was at the low end of the advisory guidelines.
It was also noted that Long pleaded guilty to 27 offenses — including 19 counts of extortion, six counts of money laundering, and one count of drug trafficking.