inconsistent voting record. Campaign staff subsequently approached Smith, who told them he had no opinion on the issue, and regardless of what decision they came to, not to share with him any of the details in order to avoid the possibility of campaign malfeasance. In September 2004, Smith submitted an affidavit to the Federal Election Commission relating to an accused conspiracy with the group Voters for Truth, occurring in the summer of 2004. Smith certified that he knew nothing in detail regarding the mailing sent by Voters for Truth. In January 2009, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office, acting upon newly discovered information, opened a criminal investigation to determine whether anyone had attempted to obstruct the Federal Election Commission proceeding. Smith's former friend and associate Steve Brown was approached by the FBI to wear a wire. Brown escaped a jail sentence by recording conversations with Smith, in which Brown deliberately brought up the topic of the campaign mailings. Smith pleaded guilty to two felony counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Each conspiracy count is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. He resigned effective August 25, 2009, and was sentenced to one year and a day of prison. He also was fined $50,000. Smith and his lawyer requested two years of home confinement and full-time community service, during which Smith would be allowed to leave his home only to teach civics and coach basketball at Confluence Academy, without pay. It would've saved taxpayers over $175,000: two years of a teacher's salary, plus the cost of housing a federal prisoner. More than 300 people, including a bipartisan group of the state's top elected officials, wrote public letters to the judge presiding over Smith's case, requesting clemency and arguing that—as Smith's prison counselor in Kentucky would later note—detaining Smith would be a waste of money and resources. However, Federal officials portrayed Smith as the mastermind of a "textbook case of political corruption" and pushed for a harsh sentence at the top of the federal guidelines. Smith was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. His lawyer subsequently requested Smith be sent to a prison camp in Marion, Illinois. However, Smith was sent to the camp at Federal Correctional Institution, Manchester in Kentucky. In late August 2010 he was released to a halfway house in St. Louis. In November 2010, he was released early from