By Todd Cooper
World-Herald
December 27, 2008
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10522168
The appeal of the embezzling nun is done — at least in Douglas County.
Douglas County District Judge Thomas Otepka has rejected Sister Barbara Markey's request to withdraw her guilty plea — a request Markey made after being sentenced to prison instead of probation.
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Markey, 74, now is expected to appeal her prison sentence to the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Markey, a psychologist who developed a widely used Catholic marriage preparation course, was sentenced in July to three to five years in prison — a term that is cut to 18 to 30 months under state sentencing guidelines.
Markey had pleaded guilty to a theft in which prosecutors say she embezzled $250,000 of Omaha Archdiocese funds. At least $76,000 of that amount was gambled away at Council Bluffs casinos.
Markey's attorneys, J. William Gallup and John Berry Jr., could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Gallup had asked Otepka to allow Markey to withdraw her guilty plea, saying her prison sentence was a "manifest injustice."
Gallup argued that Markey deserved probation — a sentence that has been given to two Omaha Archdiocese priests who have embezzled from their parishes.
However, those priests — one stole $125,000, the other, $83,000 — were sentenced by a different judge.
Otepka long has taken a hard line on white-collar crime — sentencing embezzlers to anywhere from two to five years for stealing amounts from $55,000 to $250,000.
In his 10-page order, Otepka wrote that he carefully considered Markey's sentence and that he repeatedly advised Markey at the time of her guilty plea that he alone would decide the length of her sentence.
Otepka cited his admonition to Markey at the time of her plea.
"Just so it's absolutely perfectly clear, Ms. Markey, you understand that if I accept your plea of guilty and enter a judgment of conviction on that plea, I'm not bound by any recommendation of the prosecutor or anyone else," Otepka said during the March hearing. "I'll decide what the sentence in this case will be . . . do you understand that?"
Markey responded: "Yes. They (her attorneys) made that clear."
Beyond saying the sentence was too severe, Gallup had argued that the archdiocese was vindictive toward Markey when it submitted a letter to the judge saying that the amount misused by Markey may have approached $800,000.
Markey vehemently denies that amount. And Gallup noted that the archdiocese settled the lawsuit against Markey for $125,000.
Otepka noted that the Rev. Greg Baxter, former chancellor of the archdiocese, mentioned twice in the letter that the archdiocese would not oppose probation if the judge deemed that appropriate.
Under terms of the plea bargain, Douglas County prosecutors did not oppose probation but deferred to the judge for sentencing.
Otepka said the decision to send Markey to prison was his alone.
"Clearly," Otepka wrote, "the court had evidence before it that (the) defendant committed theft of a significantly large amount of money and properly considered that fact in imposing a sentence."
• Contact the writer: 444-1275, todd.cooper@owh.com
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