Las vegas- The defense in the political corruption trial of Dario Herrera [pictured] and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey expected the worst Friday when jurors entered the courtroom stony-faced, eyes averted.

The two former county commissioners were found guilty of conspiracy, wire fraud and extortion, and are scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 21. Under federal sentencing guidelines, which are advisory, they face prison terms of at least 33 months. Their attorneys say they plan to appeal the convictions, related to accepting bribes from topless club owner Michael Galardi.

Before the verdict was read about 3:50 p.m., defense attorney Richard Wright observed that the jurors “looked both glum and distraught, like they were carrying a heavy weight on their shoulders.” They failed to return the gazes of the two defendants, their eyes never leaving the face of U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks.

Wright told Kincaid-Chauncey, “Mary, I don’t like the way I feel.”

Juror Steve Janicki said the jury was mindful of the impact of the guilty verdicts.

“Some of us cried before going back out,” said Janicki, of Henderson. “We felt the burden this would cause the defendants.”

Two jurors cried and dabbed at their eyes as the courtroom clerk read out guilty verdict after guilty verdict; Herrera was convicted on 17 of 19 charges, Kincaid-Chauncey on 13 of 14.

The jurors were not alone in their emotions. Herrera’s mother, Nancy, seated in the front row of the gallery, was teary-eyed when she entered the courtroom. Her tears flowed as the verdicts were announced.

Kincaid-Chauncey and Herrera remained expressionless. Wright clasped his hands and stared down at the defense table. Jerry Bernstein, who defended Herrera, shrunk into his black leather chair, dejected.

Herrera’s wife, Emily, remained stoic as her two sisters sitting beside her wiped away tears. Herrera declined to speak with reporters as he and his wife left the courtroom hand in hand.

“Don’t worry, Mom,” Herrera said as he embraced his mother in the hallway outside the courtroom.

Asked whether she thought she had a chance of winning probation, Kincaid-Chauncey paused and dabbed at her eyes.

“They let the real criminals off, so we’ll probably go to jail,” she said. “Maybe you’re better off in the system if you’re a criminal.”

Kincaid-Chauncey’s husband, Robert Chauncey, a retired police officer, sat in the courtroom every day of the trial. At times he shook his head or mumbled when prosecutors told jurors his wife was on the take.

“If you’re a politician, you’re dead in the water,” Chauncey said outside the courthouse Friday. “If you’re a slutty topless club owner, you get nothing.”

Chauncey was referring to Galardi, the former owner of Cheetah’s and Jaguars strip clubs, who became one of the government’s star witnesses in the trial. Galardi, who is scheduled to be sentenced later this year, entered into a plea deal with the government.

Herrera and Kincaid-Chauncey were snagged in a federal political corruption investigation that included 18 months of tapped phone lines. They were indicted in November 2003 on charges of taking cash bribes from Galardi in exchange for favorable votes and otherwise looking out for his interests.

The two also were charged with depriving the public of honest services because they failed to disclose their relationship with Galardi when they voted on issues affecting his strip clubs.

“The jury has spoken and has validated our investigation,” said William Woerner, an assistant special agent in charge at the FBI, at a news conference following the verdicts.

Galardi and former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny pleaded guilty and testified on behalf of the government. Lance Malone, Galardi’s bagman who allegedly delivered the bribe money, is scheduled to go to trial in late August. Malone was convicted of similar charges in San Diego last year.

Defense attorneys attempted to discredit the testimony of Galardi and Kenny, painting them both as liars as the two contradicted each other on the stand. But jurors said they found the government witnesses believable.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden declined to comment on the witnesses because they probably will testify in the upcoming trial of Malone. But Bogden said the verdict sent a clear message to Nevada politicians.

“Elected officials are no more above the law” than regular citizens, Bogden said. “Their purpose is promoting the public good. A violation of that strikes to the very foundation of our government.”

Dozens of intercepted telephone calls were played for jurors over a seven-week period. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Schiess told the jury during the first week that the intercepts were the core of the government’s case. He said the defendants cannot dispute what they are recorded as saying.

“The tapes are what they are,” Woerner said.

Herrera and Kincaid-Chauncey took the stand to interpret the meaning of different conversations. Despite the explanations, jurors apparently believed that the two were entrenched in a conspiracy to advance Galardi’s businesses in return for cash.

“Everybody thinks if you’re a politician, you’re guilty of something,” Kincaid-Chauncey said outside the courtroom. “I told the truth. I don’t know what else I could do. I told the truth, and obviously the jury didn’t believe it.”

Kincaid-Chauncey faced four counts of extortion in connection with taking cash from Malone or Galardi. She was found not guilty on one count, an occasion when she met with Malone in her car after having lunch with Malone and Galardi at Jerry’s Nugget in North Las Vegas. The FBI attempted to videotape that meeting, but its equipment failed.

Herrera was charged with eight counts of extortion, but the jury found him not guilty on two counts. Those two counts involved golf outings with Galardi, who testified that he paid for the golf, but he did not say he delivered cash to Herrera.

Kincaid-Chauncey and Herrera were convicted of conspiring to deprive the public of honest services. Their method was wire fraud, using telephone lines that crossed state lines. Schiess told jurors that although participants were in the same state during many phone calls, Galardi and Malone each had a Nextel phone that was tapped, and Nextel’s communications tower is in California.

Jurors were excused to the jury room on Wednesday afternoon. They deliberated for about 16 hours before announcing their verdict.

Kincaid-Chauncey said she had spent Thursday night preparing herself for the possibility of a guilty verdict.

“We prayed a lot and read the Scriptures,” she said after the verdict. “I really feel whatever happens, God has a plan. It’s for somebody’s good, and it may not be for my good.”

Douglas McNabb, a Houston attorney who specializes in federal criminal cases, said Herrera and Kincaid-Chauncey face prison sentences of at least 33 months under federal guidelines, which are advisory.

The potential sentences could go as high as 63 months if Hicks holds the pair responsible for the total amount of bribes involved in the case, McNabb said.

According to Galardi’s plea agreement, he paid between $200,000 and $400,000 in bribes to public officials. Cases involving such amounts result in a sentence range of 51 to 63 months, McNabb said.

The attorney said Hicks could choose to increase the sentences if he finds that the defendants’ conduct “was part of a systematic or pervasive corruption of a governmental function, process or office that may cause loss of public confidence in government.”

He said Hicks also could increase the sentences if he finds that Herrera and Kincaid-Chauncey, who professed their innocence from the witness stand, committed perjury.

“The trial judges are given a lot of discretion,” McNabb said.

Wright, Kincaid-Chauncey’s attorney, said he has not calculated her potential sentence but predicted before trial that she would fall in the two- to three-year range if convicted. Wright said he plans to ask Hicks for leniency based on her lifetime of good deeds.

Malone received a three-year prison sentence after his conviction last year in a related corruption case in San Diego. He remains free pending appeal.

Current county commissioners expressed hope that the board and community can move quickly beyond the scandal.

“The whole situation has been a very sad affair for the whole community,” said Bruce Woodbury, a 25-year member of the commission who served with Kincaid-Chauncey and Herrera. “A jury of their peers have found them guilty and we have to believe that justice was accomplished.”

Commissioner Tom Collins, who unseated Kincaid-Chauncey in 2004 using campaign mailers that accused the incumbent of being sleazy, said, “I think we’ll move on.

“This is judgment day for these two folks, but the people will move on to hopefully make this community a better place.”