Va. biker gang member sentenced to 5 years

Va. biker gang member sentenced to 5 years | The Associated Press | Nation | Washington Examiner: "Mark Steven Fiel pleaded for leniency from his wheelchair after his lawyer argued that lengthy sentence could mean the ailing 59-year-old, known by his biker cronies as 'Snuff,' might die in prison.

'I'm imploring the court not to give him the maximum, because it means he may not ever see the light of day,' Fiel's attorney, John Flannery II, told U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson.

Flannery said Fiel has many health problems, including emphysema, diabetes, chronic pain from a work injury and, most recently, kidney stones that put him in the wheelchair.

Fiel also asked for a sentence at or below the low end of the guideline range of 51 to 63 months, telling Hudson he had begun to turn his life around because of the positive influence of his girlfriend before he was arrested last summer in a sweeping federal investigation of the Outlaws.

'I know I screwed up,' Fiel said. 'But if you can show enough mercy to make it just a few years, I promise you'll never see me again. Stick a fork in me, I'm finished.'

Hudson, however, noted that Fiel spent 12 years in prison for crimes committed as part of another motorcycle gang, then joined the Outlaws shortly after his release and helped start the gang's chapter in northern Virginia."

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