WORTHINGTON -- Despite an impassioned plea by a spouse and a request from a former mayor to forego jail time, James Scott King, former director of the Windom Economic Development Authority, was sentenced Monday to serve 45 days in jail.
The sentence's terms were per a plea agreement reached in June between King and his attorney, Daniel Birkholz of St. James, and Douglas Storey, Cottonwood County Attorney. King, who was charged with more than 100 counts of theft by swindle earlier this year, pleaded guilty to two charges that combined the multiple theft charges into two counts. The small amounts he claimed for reimbursement through the use of falsified receipts for business lunches or hotel bills added up to $3,725.
In court for sentencing, King stood by quietly as Birkholz told Judge Jeffrey Flynn no one was more remorseful than his client. Birkholz asked Flynn to consider giving King a low fine, so he could concentrate on paying restitution, an amount that was placed at just more than $34,000.
Birkholz said King was in debt for more than $92,000 and had considerable ongoing expenses. King, 66, suffers from multiple sclerosis and other health issues.
"His reputation is permanently damaged, he is living on Social Security and is essentially unemployable," Birkholz said.
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Former Windom Mayor John Galle spoke on King's behalf, asking the judge to consider the things King had accomplished for the city.
"I am hard pressed to understand why we would put him in jail," Galle said. "There must be another way."
King's wife, Eileen, also spoke to the judge, calling King's actions an error in judgment and referring to the purposely falsified documents and receipts as "mistakes."
"Jim's actions have cost him more than I can explain," she said. "But the primary victim in this case is me -- his wife."
She went on to say the restitution would wipe out King's savings, and the resulting balance would be paid for by money left to her by her late husband. She said her home, computer and private property were looked through, photographed and seized, and her reputation destroyed.
When she spoke of King, she said he was a generous, caring man who had lived an exemplary life up until now and is no threat to society. She told the judge of her fears for King's health if he were to spend time in jail, speaking of the exercise King needs and the lack of equipment to do so while incarcerated.
"James King is a very good man who made a terrible, illegal mistake and is doing his best to rectify it," she concluded.
When King stood to address the judge, he said he had no understanding of what caused him to engage in such wrongful acts and was deeply sorry he had violated the trust of so many people. He said his actions and the consequences of them were "excruciatingly painful" to friends and family.
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"The shame and embarrassment is nearly unbearable," he acknowledged.
Flynn admitted it was hard to sentence someone like King.
"I don't sentence many people older than I am," he said, explaining it would be easier if King was a drug-dealing, foul-mouthed individual. "You are not being sentenced on the kind of person you are. On the other hand, the issue I will take is this was not a mistake or an error in judgment."
Flynn called King's crimes deliberate, long-term, premeditated behavior and said he would never understand why King acted so unlawfully for "10 to 20 bucks a throw."
"It was not a mistake, it was a deliberate theft from the public trust," Flynn added. "You did this to yourself. ... It is always family that suffers the most."
The actual sentence is for incarceration for one year and one day, stayed on the condition King serve 45 days in the Cottonwood County Jail, pay the fine and take care of the restitution -- one-third of the amount at sentencing, one-third of the amount within nine months and the remainder within the following nine months.
Birkholz turned a check for $12,000 over to the judge, an amount he said came from King's savings. The rest of the restitution will be monitored by the Cottonwood County Court Administration.
As for the fine, Flynn said King could pay it by doing community service.
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"You are an intelligent man with a lot of good years left in you," the judge added.
Flynn told King to report to jail by 9 a.m. today, but Birkholz asked for and received permission for King to report for his 45-day sentence by 6 p.m. Sept. 3.
