Ex-Penn professor asks judge for sentence
Tracy McIntosh, whose sentencing for sexually assaulting a grad student in his office was struck down, chose to avoid trial.
By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer
Aknowledging that he faces a possible state prison term, former University of Pennsylvania professor Tracy McIntosh told a city judge yesterday that he wanted to be resentenced on his 2004 no-contest plea to sexually assaulting a graduate student rather than go to trial.
Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe set sentencing for Dec. 21 and warned McIntosh that "there have been no off-the-record discussions, promises or understandings between myself and counsel at this point. You will be sentenced like any other case."
Dembe was referring to the reason that McIntosh, an internationally known researcher on treating brain injuries, was back in court 21/2 years after he was first sentenced to 111/2 to 23 months of house arrest by Judge Rayford A. Means.
Means' sentence was vacated as too lenient by the state Superior Court after District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's office appealed. The court ordered McIntosh resentenced.
McIntosh's lawyer, Joel P. Trigiani, has argued that the original sentence should be reinstated because it was the result of an off-the-record deal reached by Means, then-prosecutor Gina Maisto Smith, and defense attorneys Thomas A. Bergstrom and Arthur T. Donato Jr.
The District Attorney's Office has denied that any such plea bargain was offered or reached. Bergstrom and Donato have filed sworn affidavits saying otherwise.
In remarks on Sept. 7 after he disqualified himself from the case, Means seemed to allude to a deal, saying, "In my heart of hearts, I know what both sides bargained for."
During yesterday's hearing before Dembe - she replaced Means for resentencing - the judge again denied Trigiani's motion to reinstate the original sentence.
McIntosh, 54, of Media, looking thinner and grayer, said nothing during the 20-minute hearing except for a brief colloquy in which Dembe assessed whether he understood the legal significance of his decision.
McIntosh responded to the questions in a soft, low voice, usually giving one-word answers.
He elaborated once, when he assured the judge that medication he takes for depression did not affect his ability to understand the proceedings.
Yesterday, McIntosh had to announce whether he wanted to be resentenced on his no-contest plea to sexual assault and possession of marijuana, or withdraw the plea and go to trial.
The Superior Court's opinion means that Dembe likely will impose some prison time. But a trial at this point would be long, costly and embarrassing, and could end with convictions on rape and other serious charges that carry even longer imprisonment.
Moreover, Trigiani said, resentencing will let him again raise the issue of the purported plea bargain on appeal.
"Professor McIntosh has gone through so much in his life and now he is ready to formalize this," Trigiani said after the hearing.
Trigiani said he has 50 people - friends, colleagues and professionals - who have agreed to testify at sentencing that McIntosh is "someone of very high character" with major accomplishments in his field.
Trigiani maintained that McIntosh is "very remorseful. He is someone who completely gets it. He gets on every level what occurred and it's on his mind every day."
Assistant District Attorney Richard DeSipio said the victim - the niece of McIntosh's friend and former college roommate - would testify at sentencing.
DeSipio said he would ask for a prison term of 51/2 to 11 years: "Whether he gets the full term or not, she has to live with what happened for the rest of her life."
McIntosh was charged with rape and related charges in the Sept. 6, 2002, incident in his Penn campus office.
McIntosh's friend had asked him to show his niece around Penn before she began classes. The tour turned into a night of heavy drinking that ended with the woman's becoming ill. McIntosh admitted that he took her to his office and they smoked marijuana. He had sex with her while she was barely conscious.
In December 2004, with jury selection under way, McIntosh pleaded no contest to charges of sexual assault and possession of marijuana.
In March 2005, Means sentenced McIntosh to 111/2 to 23 months of house arrest and eight years' probation, and imposed $40,000 in fines and restitution to the victim.
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