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Ex- lawmaker pleads no contest to charge related to scandal

Posted at 5:53 PM, Aug 28, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-28 17:53:01-04

LAPEER, Mich. (AP) — A former Michigan lawmaker has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor stemming from charges filed over his role in trying to keep his extramarital affair with another legislator from being exposed.

The state attorney general’s office says Todd Courser entered his plea in a Lapeer courtroom Wednesday. A no-contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing.

Courser could serve up to a year in jail on a willful neglect of duty charge.

Sentencing is Sept. 16. A perjury charge will be dismissed.

Courser resigned in 2015 while another lawmaker, Cindy Gamrat, was expelled. Courser had asked an aide to send a bogus email to fellow Republicans as a trick so his affair with Gamrat wouldn’t be believed if it was revealed by an extortionist.