It’s the day before disgraced former Ward 5 councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. will be sentenced for his theft of $350,000 of city funds, and the jostling over how much time he should serve continues.

The City Paper (and the Post thereafter) reported late last night that Thomas’ lawyers filed an unusual second brief calling a sentencing recommendation by the prosecutors “unjustified.” In the original briefing, the U.S. Attorney for D.C. asked U.S. District Judge John D. Bates to impose a 46-month statement; Thomas’s lawyers originaly said that they would be happier with 18 months.

In the defense’s follow-up, lawyers Seth A. Rosenthal, Karl A. Racine and Gilead I. Light criticize the prosecution’s “unjustified caricature” of Thomas and cite his cooperation with authorities and “undisputed good works” as a reason to only sentence him to a year-and-a-half in prison. “Stretching the facts well beyond the breaking point, the government belittles what Mr. Thomas has done for his community over the past two decades and asserts that, in any event, his crimes define who he is and obviate his years of service,” reads the five-page-long brief.

To the prosecution, Thomas was nothing more than a “sports enthusiast” that plotted to use his position to steal money for himself; to the defense, Thomas “has used sports, not as an end in themselves, but as a medium for mentoring and providing opportunities for children.” Additionally, the brief argues, Thomas’ work with youth sports went above and beyond what he had to do as a councilmember, and that should be considered in his sentencing. (His defense team does admit that Thomas used sports-related non-profits as a means to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the city, much of which was supposed to have been spent on those very youth sports programs.)

It’s not just the prosecution that wants the book thrown at Thomas, though. The Post’s editorial board asked for the full 46 months in an editorial this week, and yesterday NBC4’s veteran D.C. reporter Tom Sherwood inveighed against the idea that Thomas is somehow not really that bad a guy. “He has dedicated [his life] to petty and major theft, self-dealing and a wanton disregard for the young people he talked about so glowingly as he picked their pockets,” wrote Sherwood.

Thomas’ sentencing is set to take place tomorrow morning.

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