"A white, middle-aged couple were each sentenced Tuesday in Sacramento to 18 months in federal prison in connection with their brutal beating of a man at a South Lake Tahoe beach because of his ethnicity and the color of his skin." Sacramento Bee, 6/30/10. This came after the two defendants were prosecuted in state court and had already received county jail sentences for misdemeanors. 3/6/09 Blog. The federal sentences were less than half what the government had sought.