Indiana's ousted top elections official was sentenced Thursday to a year of home detention for six felony convictions that a judge refused to reduce to lesser crimes — a ruling that, if upheld on appeal, will likely cost him not only his office but also his law license and livelihood.
Hamilton Superior Court Judge Steven Nation said the intentional disregard that Secretary of State Charlie White showed for the law outweighed portrayals of him as a loving father and husband. The judge refused to reduce the six felony convictions to misdemeanors that would have given the 42-year-old Republican a chance to hold onto his office.
"I believe he violated the trust of the people," Nation said.
White told the judge he would appeal the one year's detention on each of the six felonies, to be served concurrently, and Nation stayed the sentence pending that. The judge also fined White $1,000 and ordered him to serve 30 hours of community service.
But White, his wife, and his attorney said his legal problems have cost him much more than part of his freedom and his political and legal career. Defense attorney Carl Brizzi said White and his wife, Michelle, have stopped making mortgage payments on the condo that was at the heart of his legal troubles and likely will lose ownership of it. White said his assets have dwindled to whatever equity he might have in the home and small stock and bank accounts and a 5-year-old, beat-up Jaguar automobile. |
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