Judge receives letters from Hastert's critics, supporters

The explosive sentencing memos filed in the Dennis Hastert case will play a major role at his sentencing.

The judge is also receiving letters from Hastert’s critics and his supporters.

“I think he should get more. If he's guilty of the crime, he should be charged with more,” said Yorkville resident Kevin Johnson.

In Dennis Hastert's hometown, residents on Monday were not jumping on the bandwagon to defend him. The latest details portraying the former House Speaker as a serial child molester almost four decades ago did catch many by surprise.

Sue Parker owns a flower shop in downtown Yorkville.

“I think that we're hometown U.S.A. and Mr. Hastert had made it all the way to a high position in the United States. And for all this background material to be coming up is just really surprising to a lot of people,” Parker said.

Hastert is getting some support behind the scenes. Judge Thomas Durkin has received several letters supporting Hastert, all of them written before the latest details surfaced.

P.J. Hill, a former professor emeritus at Hastert's Wheaton College Public Policy Center, told the judge that Hastert "...gave generously of his time and talents and never failed to extend a helping hand to students who wanted extra information about the intersection of politics and economics.”

Floyd Kvamme, a former presidential advisor on technology issues who also knew Hastert through Wheaton College, told the judge, "Dennis Hastert is a man dedicated to others. A true public servant."

FOX 32 spoke with Kyamme Monday afternoon from his California home, asking why he wrote the letter.

“I saw a person who I had great respect for. I was stunned like everyone else with the various allegations. But felt that a part of who he wasn’t being portrayed, at least in the press that I saw,” Kyamme said.

Judge Durkin has received about a dozen letters, and not all of them ask for leniency. One New Yorker told the judge, "the scale and intention of what he did demands a full sentence."

Hastert’s sentencing is scheduled for April 27th.