By Staff
Jason Cannon
Bruce Gardner, defense attorney for former Franklin County District Attorney John Pilati, filed a notice of appeal Monday.
Pilati was convicted in November for depriving five men of their civil rights by touching them inappropriately during strip searches.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Ott sentenced Pilati last week to 42 months in federal prison. In addition to the prison term Ott ordered Pilati to pay a $12,500 fine, spend one year on supervised release upon leaving prison and register as a sex offender.
"I think the major issue here is registering as a sex offender," Gardner said.
Gardner said he is appealing the sentence and all aspects of the sentence, as well as the verdict itself.
"Basically, we're going back to the beginning," he said.
While Gardner said he would be looking at all aspects of this case from several angles, he said one of the major sticking points comes with the severity of Pilati's sentence.
"Certainly, we object to the sentencing guideline calculation," he said. "I don't think it was anyone's intent to elevate this to a sexual offense."
However, the U.S. Attorney's office cited several court cases in which judges have increased sentencing guidelines by analyzing the "underlying offense" of crimes.
In a pre-sentence report submitted to Ott in late February, Trial Attorney Christine Dunn noted, "…the determination of whether Defendant Pilati had the intent required for abusive sexual contact, is one that should be made by the judge by a preponderance of evidence."
While Gardner said he understood how Pilati's alleged conduct could be construed as sexual in nature, he didn't see it as qualifying as a sexual offense.
"That's one of the things I'm going to have to deal with," he said.
He said sexual contact and abusive sexual contact, both terms used by the government in its case against Pilati, usually are supported by arguments of the defendant's intent. Garner said this was not the case with Pilati.
"Intent was never presented at trial," he said.
Pilati was transported to the Morgan County Jail in Decatur after sentencing last week. Gardner said he expected to file paperwork Tuesday asking that Pilati be released pending the outcome of the appeal.