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 baby-sitter.

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 baby-sitter 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 tight-lipped.

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.