By Staff
Melissa Cason
Former Franklin County District Attorney John Pilati was sentenced to 42 months in a federal prison yesterday for depriving five men of their civil rights.
Pilati, 41, was convicted of touching the men inappropriately during strip searches he conducted while serving as district attorney. He was convicted of the misdemeanor charges in November.
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ott ordered Pilati register as a sex offender upon his release and pay $12,500 in restitution.
"This is an offense that requires registration," Ott said during the proceedings. "He was convicted of a sex offense."
The sentence comes barely one year to the day after Pilati was indicted. During the trial, six men testified Pilati, while serving as district attorney, ordered them to remove all or part of their clothing and then fondled them while they provided urine samples for drug testing.
Pilati was not charged with violating the civil rights of one of the men who testified.
Before the sentence was handed down, Ott acknowledged he had received and read 64 letters from various members of the community where Pilati resides.
In addition to the letters, eight people attended sentencing to speak on Pilati's behalf and ask for leniency from the court, including Russellville City Attorney Jeff Bowling, Jason Houston, an employee of the Franklin Free Press and WGOL, two properties owned by Pilati Investments, Inc. and Russellville Police Chief Chris Hargett.
"When there are allegations such as these, you have to stop and look," Hargett said.
"I looked but I've never saw anything to indicate that John would be a threat to the community."
Pilati, who was sentenced to six months in federal prison in May 2004 after pleading guilty to giving false information to an FBI agent while the agency was looking into possible public corruption in Franklin County, also spoke before the sentence was handed down and asked the court for probation en lieu of jail time.
"I complied with every aspect of (the previous sentence)," Pilati said. "I never questioned it. Now the court has a unique window to see how this particular person behaves on probation. Giving a defendant probation, in some cases, is a roll of the dice. You won't have to roll the dice with me…I am asking you to give me a second chance."
Defense Attorney Bruce Gardner said he planned to appeal the court's decision.
"I'm disappointed that we didn't get probation," Gardner said. "He was exposed to 60 months and we got 18 months chopped off that."
Gardner said Pilati was also disappointed in the sentence, and he believed his behavior while on probation should have counted more with the judge.
Pilati, who was district attorney from 1998 until 2004, maintained his innocence during the trial and contended the accusations were retaliation for him having vigorously enforced the law.