Former Illinois State Rep. Derrick Smith has been sentenced to five months in federal prison for accepting a bribe. He was convicted in June of 2014 for accepting a $7,000 cash bribe in exchange for writing a letter of support for a day care center seeking a state grant.

While announcing the former lawmaker's sentence, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman said Smith "showed that it's all about him, not about the people" in his taking of the bribe and failure to appear fully apologetic about his actions.

Prosecutors were seeking a five-year sentence for Smith's actions, arguing that it would make a statement to the ex-lawmaker as well the voters who re-elected him after he was expelled from the state legislature by the Illinois House. The former state rep had only been in office just over a year when he was caught accepting the bribe.