toledoblade.com --

COLUMBUS - Charged with four misdemeanors for breaking state ethics laws, Gov. Bob Taft had several options yesterday. He could have pleaded guilty, not guilty, no contest, or, even, not guilty by reason of insanity.

The governor chose no contest, also known in its Latin form as nolo contendere, a plea dating back to medieval England that verified the truth of the charges without admitting any guilt.

By definition, the plea contrasted sharply with the governor's statement outside the courtroom that he accepted full responsibility for failing to report golf outings and other gifts to the Ohio Ethics Commission.

"I hope the people will understand that these mistakes, though major and important mistakes, were done unintentionally, and I hope and pray that they will accept my apology," Mr. Taft said.

The governor explained that his office had a system in place to record gifts, but it did not adequately monitor the value of golf outings and other social events. All gifts greater than $75 must be included in annual ethics filings.

Two of Governor Taft's former aides pleaded no contest to ethics violations three weeks earlier. Brian Hicks, his former chief of staff, and Cherie Carroll, Mr. Hicks' former assistant, were each fined $1,000.

Despite its long history, the plea is controversial among some legal scholars even though it provides efficiency to what can be a slow-moving justice system by eliminating the need for a trial.

"They allow guilty defendants to avoid accepting responsibility for their wrongs," University of Iowa law professor Stephanos Bibas wrote in a 2003 article for the Cornell Law Review. "Guilty defendants' refusals to admit guilt impede their repentance, education, and reform."

Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Mark S. Froehlich chose to hold Mr. Taft accountable by fining him $4,000 and ordering him to write a letter of apology to the citizens of Ohio.

Although it was possible that Mr. Taft could receive six months jail for each charge, it was unlikely that he would ever find himself behind bars, Ohio State University law professor Douglas Berman said.

Ohio's sentencing guidelines stipulate that punishments for a misdemeanor should be guided by three factors: the circumstances of the crime, the offender's prior record, and the likelihood of the offender repeating his crime.

White-collar criminals or people who break ethics laws rarely are given jail time because their crimes were nonviolent, Mr. Berman said.

"We tend to appropriately or inappropriately have more concern about physical harms than economic ones," he said.

The court is typically lenient on individuals without a prior record, such as Mr. Taft. Even those convicted of minor domestic violence and drunken drivers, whose crimes are also misdemeanors, rarely have to serve time for a first offense.

"Very few people convicted of domestic violence get sentenced to jail," said Lara Baker, chief counsel for the Columbus city attorney. She said that first-time offenders are usually put on probation.

Among state officials convicted of ethics misdemeanors, only Paul Mifsud, who was chief of staff during George Voinovich's tenure as governor, was incarcerated. He was sentenced to jail for six months in 1997 for accepting a state contractor's free renovation worth $100,000 on his future wife's house.

Contact Joshua Boak at:
jboak@theblade.com
or 419-724-6050.

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