Bernard Kerik

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik has been learning the hard way about just how hard it can be to be on the other side of the law. Even before his trial on federal corruption and fraud charges was scheduled to begin, he managed to anger the presiding judge enough that the judge revoked his bail and sent him to jail. On Thursday, the judge delivered some more bad news for Kerik.

Under the plea deal the former commissioner made with prosecutors when he plead guilty to eight felonies, federal guidelines said Kerik should get a sentence of 27 to 33 months in prison. But the judge wasn’t bound by that; instead, he set the time Kerik will serve at four years.

In one sense, Kerik was lucky; the maximum sentence he could have received was 61 years, though — as is often the case — that never really seemed to be a serious consideration.

Bernie Kerik started from humble beginnings, but he rose to the top at a remarkable speed.  His mother, he revealed in his autobiography, was a prostitute, but he went into law enforcement. Once he became friends with New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, things happened fast: In less than a decade, he went from being an undercover detective to the city’s correction commissioner and then the head of its police department.

The fall happened just as fast.

It began at the end of 2004, when then-President George W. Bush named Kerik as his choice to head the Department of Homeland Security. Questions about some of his dealings led to the nomination being withdrawn, but it was too late to save him.

The Senate voted Tuesday in favor of a measure, already approved by the House, that allows the administration to continue transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. for trial. President Obama is expected to sign the bill.

There is one big restriction included in the legislation: The detainees may not allowed to be brought to the U.S. if it the transfer is done for the purpose of releasing them. Despite warnings from people who oppose the idea of closing the detention facility at Guantanamo, the administration is also against the concept of releasing former detainees here.

Congress may not have the last word on this, however. Also on Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that will ask the justices to decide whether detainees who are not considered a security risk can be freed in the U.S. The case was brought by 13 Chinese Muslims who were cleared for release six years ago but are still imprisoned at Guantanamo.

Once, Bernie Kerik was the commissioner of the New York City Police Department; later, he was — briefly — then-President George W. Bush’s nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security. Now, he can’t even stay out of jail before going on trial.

Kerik’s facing corruption and fraud charges, and is scheduled to go on trial next week. But at a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Stephen Robinson revoked Kerik’s bail and sent him to jail. The New York Post points out that Kerik is likely to be housed in a facility that’s right next to the headquarters where he presided over the NYPD not even 10 years ago.

Robinson revoked Kerik’s bail because the former commissioner leaked non-public information to people associated with his defense; that information then showed up on Web sites that support him, potentially tainting the jury pool.

The judge was clearly frustrated with the defendant who appeared before him.

“I fear he has a toxic combination: self-minded focus and arrogance,” Robinson said. “He sees the court’s ruling as an inconvenience, something to be ignored, and an obstacle to be circumvented.”