Ex-assemblyman who said he couldn’t live on $79,500 salary gets 14 years in prison

By Emily Saul and Josh Saul
September 17, 2015 | 12:24pm

William Boyland Jr.Photo: Riyad Hasan

Disgraced ex-Brooklyn Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. was sentenced to 14 years in prison Thursday on a slew of corruption charges, with the federal judge saying she didn’t think he had “any redeeming characteristics” before handing down her sentence.

“This defendant clearly had no respect for the law,” Brooklyn federal Judge Sandra Townes lashed into Boyland, 45, before sentencing the crooked politician.

​​”After sitting through this trial and hearing Mr. Boyland on those audio tapes, without knowing anything about him, I started out not seeing any redeeming characteristics of the defendant.”

When Townes announced the sentence of 168 months, Boyland’s father, ex-Assemblyman William Boyland Sr., used pen and paper to do long division on his lap in an unsuccessful attempt to calculate how long his son would be behind bars.

“That looked like about 13 years,” Boyland Sr. said as court adjourned.

“It’s 14 years,” a family friend grimly corrected him.

Given the chance to speak before he was sentenced, Boyland offered no apology or remorse and instead described bizarre examples where he claimed to have assisted people in his neighborhood.

“I thank God for being given the opportunity to help,” Boyland said without even standing, describing how he helped a widow save her apartment from dishonest developers and other irrelevant examples.

Prosecutors slammed Boyland’s conduct before his sentence was handed down.

“William Boyland Jr. has an endless capacity to cheat, steal and lie,” Assistant US Attorney Marisa Seifan said in court.

“He is the perfect storm of corruption.”

Townes also ordered the disgraced assemblyman to forfeit $169,000 and also to pay $71,339 to the Department of Taxation and $84,270 to the state Office of the Aging in restitution for submitting fraudulent expense vouchers and for funneling funds through a nonprofit he controlled.

Boyland defense attorney Stuart Grossman turned in a letter comparing his client to other state politicians who were convicted of crimes — including ex-state Sen. Pedro Espada and ex-City Councilman Larry Seabrook — but Townes said she thought what Boyland did was worse than those convicted pols.

“The comparison there strikes me as hollow,” Townes said.
Boyland was convicted in March 2014 on 21 counts, including accepting a bribe from an FBI agent posing as a developer with an interest in his Brownsville district and accepting bribes from a carnival promoter and in exchange for helping with carnival permits.

He was also convicted of using for political purposes $200,000 in state funds that were supposed to go to help elderly people in his district and of claiming he was in Albany on legislative business so he could submit $70,000 in vouchers when he was actually on personal trips to North Carolina and Virginia.

One of the prosecutors who worked the case against Boyland was Robert Capers, who US Sen. Charles Schumer has recommended be appointed as the next Brooklyn US attorney, replacing Loretta Lynch, who became US attorney general.

Boyland delayed his sentencing multiple times, including a memorable attempt in December when he had his mommy call his lawyer to say he wasn’t coming to court.

Federal prosecutors had asked for Boyland, a member of a prominent Brooklyn political clan, to be sentenced to over 19 years behind bars.

The Democrat had been recorded by an undercover agent grousing about his paltry compensation as an assemblyman.

“What the hell?” he asked an undercover officer over a pricey steak dinner, referring to his $79,500 Assembly salary.

“Maybe that’s my son’s tuition and maybe I can pay for some gas . . . How the hell you gonna live off of that?”

Boyland was elected in 2003 and was preceded in office by his dad.

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