Court jails once-powerful US politician

Former US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, once considered among the nation’s most powerful and feared politicians, was sentenced to three years in prison for a scheme to influence elections that already cost him his job, leadership post and millions of dollars in legal fees.

The sentence comes after a jury in November convicted DeLay, a Houston-area Republican, on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering for using a political action committee to illegally send corporate donations to Texas House candidates in 2002.