Newton was released in February 2010 and in 2012 unsuccessfully attempted a political comeback, losing in the primary in a race for his old state Senate seat.
[2] Newton represented an area of Bridgeport that was one of poorest districts in Connecticut,[3] and was "a powerful figure from the city's East Side for more than two decades.
[3] During his seventeen years in the state Legislature, Newton "was known for high-flown rhetoric, at one point describing himself as 'the Moses of my people' and 'God's faithful servant.
[2][4][5] The executive director of the Progressive Training Associates, Warren Keith Godbolt, who gave the bribe, was also convicted of bribery in 2005.
[4][9] In imposing the sentence, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Alan H. Nevas criticized Newton's "Moses" remark, saying "I don't think there's any reference in the Bible ... that as God led his people for 40 years in the desert that he ever took money from them.
"[9] In February 2010, he was released from the federal prison camp in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and moved to a halfway house in Waterbury, Connecticut.
The state judge found that Newton received no personal financial benefit from the crime, and that the offense was a result of "his campaign's sloppiness and failure to keep track of how much it had raised"—a mitigating factor.
[24] As part of the plea agreement, Newton acknowledged a "knowing and willful" violation of the law; speaking to the media afterward, he said that he accepted responsibility for whatever occurred within his campaign, but maintained he personally did nothing wrong.