Ex-Arkansas lawmaker gets 4 years for Missouri bribery case

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that a former Arkansas state senator has been sentenced to four years and two months in prison for accepting multiple bribes in Missouri. The U.S. Department of Justice says 48-year-old Jeremy Hutchinson, of Little Rock, was sentenced Tuesday on a charge of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery. The federal government says that sentence will run consecutive to previous sentences of three years and 10 months for similar convictions in the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, bringing a total of eight years in prison. Hutchinson admitted he was hired as outside counsel for Preferred Family Healthcare Inc. and in exchange took action in the Legislature to help the Springfield, Missouri-based nonprofit.