Jeff Gillooly apologized. Nancy Kerrigan didn't accept it. And the judge was unmoved.
Gillooly, Tonya Harding's ex-husband, was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison - double what prosecutors had recommended and the harshest punishment of all five defendants in the attack on figure skater Kerrigan.Presiding Circuit Judge Donald Londer also fined Gillooly $100,000, saying his "outrageous and callous deed focused the attention of the world on this community and sullied it in the eye of international opinion."
"You are a prime example of how ruthless ambition and raw greed can disrupt, degrade and disfigure a sport of grace even to the height of the Olympics," Londer said.
Moments earlier, Gillooly had apologized to Kerrigan - even though, he said, "any apology coming from me rings hollow."
"I would say to anyone who is considering entering into a desperate act such as I did to think again," Gillooly said. "Because I didn't, I'm going to prison."
Kerrigan, in Phoenix to address an International Lions Clubs convention, said she didn't accept the apology.
"I just sort of put it away," she said. "I don't know if he's sorry. I don't know what he's thinking in his mind."
Prosecutors had recommended a one-year sentence, citing Gillooly's cooperation with prosecutors. But Londer said he would stand by the terms of the original plea agreement that he accepted when Gillooly pleaded guilty to racketeering on Feb. 1.
Gillooly's lawyer, Ron Hoevet, said his client was assured by prosecutors when he pleaded guilty that he would get no more prison time than the other conspirators.
While in Detroit for the national championships, Kerrigan was clubbed above the right knee with a metal police baton after practice on Jan. 6. Two nights later, with Kerrigan out because of the injury, Harding won the title.