FAYETTE COMMISSIONER GETS PROBATION, FINE FOR MARIJUANA POSSESSION

Fayette County Commissioner Robert Horgan was placed on 12 months'
probation and fined $800 after pleading no contest Thursday morning to
charges of misdemeanor possession of marijuana and expired tags.

Horgan was sentenced as a first offender in a plea bargain. Fayette
State Court Judge Fletcher Sams also ordered Horgan to perform 40
hours of community service, undergo substance abuse evaluation, submit
to drug testing and abstain from using drugs or alcohol during probation.

Horgan's lawyer, Christy Jindra, asked Sams to give the same kind of
sentence anybody else would receive, noting that the commissioner's
case attracted media attention and resulted in extra legal fees.

"He ... endured a pound of flesh, your honor, and that's because he's
a county commissioner," Jindra said.

Authorities said a Fayette sheriff's deputy stopped Horgan, 45, the
night of May 23 after noticing expired tags on his truck. The deputy
reportedly smelled marijuana smoke, asked to search the truck and
found 4.3 grams of marijuana and one marijuana cigarette.

Horgan apologized at a county commission meeting and has rejected
calls to resign. A recall effort faltered when a judge decided Aug. 28
that the crime was not connected to Horgan's official duties.

After the court hearing on Thursday, Horgan said he plans to serve out
his county commission term, which expires in 2012. He was first
elected in 2006.

Horgan declined to answer reporters' questions about where he obtained
the drugs. Jindra said Horgan didn't buy the marijuana and that the
circumstances under which he obtained it were "embarrassing."

"He has no source for drugs in Fayette County," Jindra
said.

Horgan still faces fallout from an ethics hearing, in which a
three-member panel decided the commissioner had violated two sections
of the county ethics ordinance. Those findings were passed on to the
county commission, which could issue a reprimand, fine him $1,000, or
both.

Jindra said Horgan may appeal the decision of the ethics panel, which
was composed of non-Fayette county attorneys.

The case was prosecuted by Clayton Solicitor Tasha Mosley after the
Fayette solicitor recused himself. Sams asked Mosley and Jindra if
they objected to his hearing the case, and neither did.