Kenerly plea kept Gwinnett DA awake at night | www.myajc.com

It’s a decision that Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter says keeps him awake at night.

Four years after the indictment of County Commissioner Kevin Kenerly for allegedly taking $1 million in bribes, Porter this week reached a plea agreement with the politician that calls for no prison time and no admission of guilt.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t do the wrong thing in the Kenerly case, but I’m not sure I did the right thing,” Porter said. “I don’t know whether I allowed my compassion to overcome my basic sense that public officials should be held to a higher standard. I laid awake for a long time thinking about it, and I lay awake still.”

Under the plea agreement approved Tuesday, Kenerly was sentenced to 10 years of probation and will pay a $10,000 fine. He pleaded “no contest” to a bribery charge that stemmed from a 2010 special grand jury investigation of county land deals. As part of the agreement, the prosecutor dropped two misdemeanor charges of failure to disclose a financial interest in properties the county rezoned.

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