Ex-County Attorney Gets Probation for Role in ‘Nice Guy’ Prostitution Ring
A former county attorney in Minnesota who pleaded guilty to operating a “nice guys” prostitution ring has been sentenced to 15 years’ probation.
Former Hennepin County attorney John Paul St. Marie, 66, won’t serve any time in jail because of his fragile medical condition, according to stories by the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. A quadriplegic since the age of 8 when he contracted polio, St. Marie uses a wheelchair and a ventilator hooked to his trachea.
Judge Rosanne Nathanson of Ramsey County said St. Marie needs around-the-clock health care and “incarceration is out of the question,” according to the Star Tribune account.
St. Marie was accused of setting up trysts between well-to-do “nice guy” businessmen and expensive prostitutes at top hotels in Minneapolis. He pleaded guilty in November.
Before the sentencing, St. Marie’s lawyer read a statement to the court on behalf of his client, the Star Tribune says. In the statement, St. Marie said he was sorry for the weakness of character, and apologized to his wife, his former co-workers, the judge, the prosecutor and “other persons deserving of my apology.”
“I have no acceptable answers for myself or my behavior, other than to say I was very depressed and lonely after my medical condition required me to take early retirement and then saddled me with a tracheotomy and ventilator for the rest of my life,” the statement said.
