A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday lopped more than 15 years off the securities fraud sentence of former New York Islanders co-owner Stephen Walsh after finding that he received “ineffective assistance” from the lawyers representing him when he was imprisoned for 20 years in 2014.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska, who ruled last month that Walsh deserved a resentencing, reduced his sentence at a noon hearing to time served, and Walsh’s lawyer said he would be let go as soon as the order was transmitted to the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, later Wednesday or Thursday.
“The family is driving up now, and if it’s tomorrow it’s still not 20 years from now,” lawyer Susan Kellman said Wednesday afternoon.