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Posted on 12/24/2002 7:52:00 AM PST by Sparta

Thomas gets fine, suspended sentence

12/24/02

By Michael Perlstein Staff writer/The Times-Picayune

State Sen. Jerry Thomas, R-Franklinton, pleaded no contest to lewd conduct Monday in connection with his Dec. 10 arrest in an eastern New Orleans adult video store. Thomas, 49, was ordered to pay a $350 fine and placed on six months inactive probation after directing his attorney David Courcelle to withdraw his earlier plea of innocent.

Thomas, who did not appear in court, also was ordered by Municipal Court Judge Sean Early to stay away from the video store and given a 30-day suspended sentence that could turn into jail time if Thomas is seen near the establishment. Because the charge is a misdemeanor, Thomas did not have to make a personal court appearance.

A doctor and former coroner, Thomas was arrested after New Orleans police said they saw him engaged in a lewd act during a raid at A&N Kola Video on Chef Menteur Highway. According to the municipal code, lewd conduct is the exposure of genitals, intercourse, urination or defecation in a public place or where the act is likely to be seen by another person.

A police source said Thomas was engaged in sexual activity with another man at the store, an allegation that Thomas' other attorney, Marion Farmer, denied at the time of the arrest. Courcelle had no comment about what actually happened at the video store.

"Jerry Thomas has great remorse for having been in an establishment where he should not have been," Courcelle said. "He acknowledges and accepts full responsibility for his mistake."

Courcelle said Thomas arrived at his decision to plead no contest after consulting with his family. Thomas has a wife and four children.

"In order to resolve this matter for both himself and his family he has chosen to plead no contest," Courcelle said.

In a no contest plea -- officially nolo contendere -- a defendant is convicted without admitting guilt and it is generally an acknowledgment that the evidence against a defendant would produce a conviction at trial. Thomas had been scheduled for trial Jan. 8.

Of the four men arrested in the video store at the same time as Thomas, three pleaded guilty over the past 10 days and were given sentences identical to the one Thomas received.

Thomas, who represents Washington Parish and parts of St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and St. Helena parishes, has no plans to make a public statement on the matter, Courcelle said. He was elected to the state Senate in 1999 after serving as Washington Parish coroner from 1980 to 1988 and as a state representative from 1988 to 1999.

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