Former DA released from prison

Former Franklin County District Attorney John Pilati was released from a federal prison in Texas Thursday after completing 36 months of a 42-month prison sentence.

Pilati, 44, was convicted in 2007 of depriving five men of their civil rights by touching them inappropriately during strip searches when he was district attorney. The incidents in question reportedly took place between 2001 and 2004.

Pilati served as district attorney from 1998 to 2004 when he was forced to resign from office after pleading guilty to making a false statement to FBI agents during an investigation in which he was accused of extortion in his handling of several cases.

Pilati was never charged with extortion, but he did serve six months in prison for lying to investigators as a result of that investigation.

In 2007, he was indicted on charges that he violated the rights of five young men by touching them inappropriately as they provided urine samples for drug tests that took place at the Franklin County Jail, Russellville Police Department, in his office and at his home.

His defense attorneys have maintained the searches of the men were done to make sure they were not attempting to defeat a drug test and he did nothing inappropriate. The prosecution contended Pilati used his position to intimidate the men and used the drug tests as an excuse to fondle them.

He was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison in March 2008.

In February, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Criminal Appeals in Atlanta denied Pilati’s appeal of a requirement that he register as a sex offender. Federal guidelines for sex offenders will be in place.

Under these guidelines, sex offenders can be required to register with law enforcement agencies and provide them with information regarding their place of employment, residence address and other contact information, and also to make periodic visits to those agencies to verify this information is current.