MICHELLE HOLDEN ADMITS SEX WITH MINOR, IS SPARED PRISON TERM

Three days after her husband stepped down as the mayor of Pasadena,
Michelle E. Holden tearfully halted what would have been a sordid trial,
pleading no contest to a felony count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a
minor - the couple's 15-year-old male babysitter.

With the plea bargain, Holden, 35, and the mother of four small children,
avoids a state prison term and having to register as a sex offender.

Instead, when Superior Court Judge Joseph F. DeVanon sentences her June 22,
Holden will receive three years' probation, during which she must undergo
drug and sex counseling, submit to drug tests, and perform 200 hours of
community service. Deputy Dist. Atty. Tuppence Macintyre, meanwhile, agreed
to dismiss five other felonies and two misdemeanors against Holden, the
wife of Chris Holden, who returned to the Pasadena City Council after
losing the mayor's seat. She also is the daughter-in-law of Los Angeles
City Councilman Nate Holden.

Comforted by her lawyer, Mark J. Geragos, Holden sobbed and dabbed at her
eyes in the nearly empty Pasadena courtroom as she entered her plea. It
came even as the jury was being selected. Ironically, the charge she
acknowledged - sexual intercourse with a minor under 16 - was the only
allegation she had flatly denied when questioned by police.

But it also was the only charge that, under a quirk of state law, does not
require her to register as a sex offender, Macintyre said. Had the case
gone to trial, it would have pitted two families, once close, against each
other as Holden and her former babysitter told of their mutual marijuana
use and several sexual encounters that allegedly occurred between January
and March 1998. The only public record of the case is a transcript of two
days of grand jury testimony by the victim; his sister; her boyfriend, who
also was Michelle Holden's hairdresser; a second youth known as John Doe
No. 2, and a police detective. The victim, now 17, testified about a series
of sexual encounters he said were initiated by Holden. They made him so
uncomfortable he vomited during the first session. Pasadena Police Det.
George Vidal testified that Holden had admitted incidents of oral sex, but
denied she had sexual intercourse with the boy. Attorney Geragos had
contended at pretrial hearings that his client was the real victim, and
that the charges were politically motivated. But as he and the Holdens
left the courthouse Thursday, the usually chatty lawyer was tightlipped.
The boy's father, however, said he believed the Holdens owed his family an
apology for violating their trust.

The incident occurred while he and his wife, who had donated a kidney to
him for transplant, were recovering. He said his son eventually confided in
him, and he reported the sexual activity to police. "When people say boys
are not damaged, they are wrong," he said.