McCarty Sentenced to Prison, Leaving Trail of Corruption Behind
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| Former County Commissioner Mary McCarty is now headed to the slam. |
But her contrition, coming after years of steering county bond underwriting contracts to her husband's company and enjoying gifts of luxury hotel stays from a developer, was not enough to save her from a substantial stay in the slammer. U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks sentenced her to three-and-a-half years, plus three years supervised release and a $100,000 fine. This was more than the yearlong sentence she had requested and less than the five years prosecutors wanted.
Middlebrooks also remanded her immediately to jail, causing the reporters in the room to salivate over visions of the longtime politician cuffed and led off in disgrace. Instead, she was simply escorted out a back door of the courtroom, and the media were ordered out. "There she goes," one bystander observed.
Watching the action outside the courthouse, Jupiter resident John Parsons was less-than-enthused. He had a yellow square with the number five pinned on his lapel, lobbying for McCarty to get the maximum punishment. "We were hoping to see justice done, but it was kinda half-justice," he said. "You get more than three-and-a-half years for stealing turtle eggs."
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