Kim Requests Delay in Serving Sentence

U.S. Rep. Jay C. Kim has asked to put off serving his two-month federal sentence of part-time house detention until after the June primary election, saying it will place him at a disadvantage in the hotly contested Republican race.

But government prosecutors balked in papers filed Monday with U.S. District Judge Richard A. Paez. They contended that the Diamond Bar congressman has ample opportunity to campaign for reelection and carry out his congressional duties under terms of his recent sentence for campaign finance violations and should not be given special treatment because of “inconvenience and embarrassment.”

Kim, who is running for a fourth term in Congress, was sentenced by Paez on March 11 after pleading guilty last August to misdemeanor charges of accepting and concealing illegal corporate and foreign campaign donations. He remains under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.