Sullivan Spared Prison TermEx-Judge Sentenced To Rehab, House ArrestUPDATED: 5:23 p.m. EST February 20, 2001 A former Springdale district justice was spared time in a state prison Tuesday by a judge who ordered her instead to a treatment program for drugs.
Gigi Sullivan of Cheswick was ordered to spend 30 days in a drug
rehabilitation clinic, followed by 23 months of house arrest.
Sullivan pleaded guilty in November to the charges which
included conspiracy, running a corrupt organization, obstructing
justice, hindering prosecution and accepting a bribe.
Authorities say she tipped off her drug dealer to a police
investigation in exchange for heroin and cocaine.
Judge Robert Colville said that Sullivan will be on probation for
five years after her house arrest.
The judge said that one slip-up during the sentence will result in a trip to the
state prison for women in Muncy.
"Nowhere are you
permitted to make a mistake," Colville told Sullivan. "I wish you the best of luck." Colville was Sullivan's boss as Allegheny County district attorney when she worked as an assistant in the office in the early 1980s. He became a judge in 1998 after 24 years as the county's top prosecutor. A spokesman said that Colville's removal from the case was never suggested because it was believed he would be "fair and unbiased." Colville did not return a message left at his office late Tuesday afternoon. Sullivan did not take the stand to testify on her behalf, remaining standing and in tears during most of the proceedings, WTAE-TV's Ted Koppy reports. "She made a mockery of her role. Anything less than incarceration excuses what she has done," prosecutor and deputy attorney general Donna McClelland said. Sullivan, who has an 11-year-old son, already has spent 39 days at a clinic for addicts and applied to the Betty Ford Clinic in Palm Springs, Calif., but could not afford it, her lawyers said. Sullivan lost her district justice's seat in a 1998 election. "I think the judge was eminently fair," defense attorney Patrick Thomassey said. "We are well on the way to getting this behind us." Sullivan's father, Terry, told the judge that his daughter was preyed upon by people who took advantage of her sweet nature. "My daughter needs help. She won't get that help in prison," the elder Sullivan said. "She will get it with more solid support from her family."
Copyright 2001 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
| ||||||||
   |
| |||||||
