Courser sentenced to 12 months of probation, can avoid jail

LAPEER, Mich. – A former Michigan lawmaker has been sentenced to 12 months of probation stemming from charges that were filed over a plot to hide his extramarital affair with another legislator.

Todd Courser was sentenced Monday in Lapeer. He must pay $1,125 in fines, court costs and fees.

The 47-year-old Courser can avoid spending 45 days in jail by doing 90 hours of community service and successfully completing probation.

He pleaded no contest last month to a misdemeanour.

An aide for Courser and former Rep. Cindy Gamrat testified during a probable cause hearing that Courser asked him to send a bogus, sexually explicit email to thousands of their fellow Republicans as a trick so his affair with Gamrat wouldn’t be believed.

Courser resigned from the state House in 2015 rather than be expelled.