To her supporters and defense attorneys, former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson was a voice for some of the state's neediest and most powerless people, as well as a "flawed being, who made terrible mistakes." According to federal prosecutors, the Roxbury Democrat was a politician who felt and acted like she was above the law, learned nothing from her past conviction, and was breaking laws from the outset of her political career.

A U.S. District Court judge will have to decide which version of Wilkerson is closest to the truth as he weighs what punishment is appropriate. Prosecutors are pushing for four years in jail -- two months more than the sentencing guidelines established in law -- saying it's necessary to "reflect the defendant's crime and to promote respect for the law." Wilkerson pleaded guilty to corruption and bribery charges earlier this year.

In a late Friday court filing, prosecutor John McNeil wrote, "Wilkerson engaged in an extraordinary range of official acts in an abuse of her public office – she introduced legislation, delayed the passage of legislation, placed holds on unrelated legislation to advance her interests, lobbied the Senate President and Senate colleagues, lobbied members of the House, pressured local officials including the City Council President, the Mayor, the Chairman of the [Boston Licensing Board], and called in a personal favor from a wealthy private businessman who had business before the state. Her corruption was both systematic and pervasive."

McNeil said Wilkerson committed campaign law violations between 2000 and 2007, and between 2003 and 2004, solicited and collected over $100,000 from wealthy individuals and local community members to help her pay off the tax debt she incurred in connection with tax violations.

More recently, Wilkerson settled her second campaign finance violation case with the state attorney general in 2008. McNeil said that "starting shortly after her loss of the Democratic primary in September 2008, Wilkerson commenced a sticker campaign which was to be funded entirely with illegal contributions."

But Wilkerson's attorneys, Max Stern and Charles Ogletree, are arguing in their own documents filed Friday that the prosecutors' recommendation is based on inaccurate and overblown facts. They are pushing for a "considerably" lower sentence, saying she has "fully accepted responsibility" for the crimes.

"Indeed, she has never stated or implied anything to the contrary from the outset of this prosecution," they wrote. "She promptly resigned her office after indictment. She has agreed to disbarment as a lawyer. As is discussed below, defendant’s conduct was never motivated by a desire to enrich herself, and she never did. As she comes before the Court for sentencing, she owns no property, no savings, no life insurance, no pension. She has no safety net. She has not been employed since her resignation and she is not eligible for unemployment compensation, or even social security."

The only asset she has is $64,000 in retirement contributions she made as a state senator, but handed $23,500 of that over to the feds to repay them for the bribes in the same amount that were captured on audio and video tapes, they added.

"In addition, the defendant will also utilize the balance of this money – with the exception only of funds currently needed for her bare subsistence – to satisfy her obligation to make further payments to the IRS, once that amount is properly calculated," her attorneys wrote.

She lived a "modest" life style and never had a "desire for personal benefit" they argued, saying that when she was arrested in October 2008, she didn't own a car or real estate, and had only vacationed twice in 15 years, they said.

Her attorneys also accused the FBI of a "constant investigation, including the creation of a growing file, over and over looking into her connections to numerous persons and organizations, investigating her son, her travel, her legislative filings, and repeatedly reviewing and collecting the records of the State Ethics Commission and Office of Campaign Finance with respect to her."

The next court date in the case is Nov. 29 at 3 p.m.

Other highlights from Friday's court filings:

-- Her attorneys maintained that she had State Ethics Commission clearance for accepting some of the money before the indictment because of her tax troubles. "Until the events which comprise this indictment unfolded, defendant’s acceptance of largesse from friends and others was not illegal," they wrote. "But as these benefits extended beyond her tax crisis, it became extraordinarily poor judgment for her to continue to accept them. She blinded herself to the fact that the persons offering were in fact expecting something in return, and that these expectations could very well implicate her official duties."

They added, "Her fundamental error was a belief that if she could posit an independent and good motive for doing something, this negated the fact that someone was also giving her something for it. Thus, she was readymade for the government sting operation which, at every point, was targeted to a cause it knew she would readily embrace – participation of black/latino businessmen in economic development in the minority community."

-- In arguing for a lower sentence, they wrote: "Dianne Wilkerson’s crime must be viewed in the context of an extraordinarily generous life. Her good works are exceptional and span her lifetime, beginning in junior high school when she mediated racially charged disputes and, as set forth in the attached letters, continuing to this day. Her entire life reflects charitable purposes. She has saved the homes, jobs, and lives of people too numerous to count." She is also currently "the only caretaker for her 75 year old mentally ill mother, Ethel Johnson."

More to come...