Dean Skelos and son beg for mercy

In court papers filed last week, the lawyers for Dean and Adam Skelos asked a judge for minimal sentencing for their clients, citing a number of personal issues.

The lawyers, G. Robert Gage, representing Dean Skelos, and Christopher P. Conniff, representing Adam, asked U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood, who is scheduled to sentence the two on April 13, to give them community service and probation instead of jail time. Asking for lenience does not procure the two from appealing their verdict or sentence.

“For over 34 years, Dean Skelos has devoted his life to public service and improving the lives of New Yorkers,” Gage wrote. “His conviction represents a complete aberration in an otherwise extraordinary and honorable record of service. Furthermore, and tragically, the conduct which led to his conviction was fundamentally driven by Dean’s love and concern for his only son and ultimately his son’s young family, a love that is the hallmark of his family life.”

The letters the lawyers wrote painted a picture of two family-oriented men who made mistakes and have already paid a hefty price for them: When Dean was found guilty of corruption in December, he was immediately disbarred and removed from his position in the Senate, ending his 30-year political career.

Gage argued that that was more than enough punishment. “This very public trial and conviction and its effect on Mr. Skelos’s professional and legislative career have certainly met the general deterrence goals of the criminal justice system.”

The lawyers also outlined the strong bond between father and son. Gage pointed out how Dean was raised in a large family, and always wanted something similar. A bout of mumps in high school, however, left him infertile, the letter said. So when he and his first wife, Nancy, decided to adopt, Skelos bonded with his son. Then, soon after the adoption went through, Nancy left Skelos, leaving him to raise the infant Adam on his own.

“Throughout their lives the two have been inseparable, and Mr. Skelos has always been loyal to Adam, sometimes to a fault,” the letter reads. “It was Mr. Skelos’ extreme — often blind — loyalty to his son that led him to constantly take Adam’s side, no matter what.”