The Payson woman, who accused the former two-term Utah County commissioner of groping, fondling and kissing her, described how she spent a week in a psychiatric ward, was too stressed out to eat and lost her home and savings.

The woman - The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not publish names of sex-crime victims - told 4th District Judge John C. Backlund that Gardner deserves to spend time in a jail cell to make up for the incident.

But Backlund disagreed. While he imposed the maximum sentence for simple assault - six months in jail and a $1,000 fine - he delayed the jail time in order to give Gardner a chance to prove himself on a year's probation.

The judge also suspended all but $600 of the fine and ordered Gardner to pay restitution to the victim. And he ordered him to attend counseling for substance abuse and mental health problems.

Then Backlund's tone turned stern: If Gardner so much as gets a speeding ticket, picks up a beer or skips out on counseling, he's going to jail, the judge said. He also is barred from contacting the victim, and from contacting any other woman under 18 without parental permission.

"I feel Mr. Gardner deserves jail time," Backlund said. But Springville prosecutor Paul DeWitt, as part of a plea deal, had agreed to not seek jail time - to a point.

Backlund, however, toughened up the prosecutor's promise: Gardner's history of scrapes with the law, the judge said, warranted strict probation with a threat of jail time to ensure he doesn't offend again.

Gardner was originally charged with sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor. That could have landed him in jail for a year and/or a $2,500 fine.

But in May, he pleaded no contest to simple assault, a class B misdemeanor. Attorney Michael Esplin said his client entered the plea because he wanted to resolve the matter, especially after being arrested on a drunken driving charge the day before he made the deal.

He noted that Gardner also wrote a letter of apology to the woman before the charges were filed.

Gardner told the judge that he was sorry for what he did, but he maintained that he did not touch the woman in a sexual way. He explained that she was driving the car erratically, and he had only put his hand on her leg to get her to slow down.

"I regret this entire incident," Gardner said.

But Backlund wasn't convinced.

"I find your statement totally lacking in credibility," Backlund said. He said it appeared that Gardner used his training as a family therapist to further take advantage of the woman, who said she had been abused in the past by a family member.

Prosecutor DeWitt, while not personally satisfied with the sentence, said Backlund struck the right balance between punishing Gardner and protecting the woman.

"He understood the situation and did the appropriate thing," DeWitt said of the judge's decision.

dmeyers@sltrib.com

Then-Utah County Commissioner David Gardner was arrested near Spanish Fork in March 1999 and charged with drunken driving after his car left the road. His gas tank had ruptured, starting a brush fire. Gardner claimed a hitchhiker offered him a drink. He eventually pleaded no contest to the DUI charge, and the state agreed to drop the case if Gardner stayed out of trouble for nine months. However, Gardner pleaded no contest in October 2000 to disorderly conduct after he reportedly picked up a neighbor's 9-year-old child by the neck in a dispute over a broken flashlight. That voided his earlier plea deal. He appealed, and in a second DUI trial in 2002, the charge was dismissed on a legal technicality. Gardner pleaded guilty in 2001 to drunken driving and having an open alcohol container in his car. That stemmed from an October 2000 arrest in Provo. He performed two days of community service. Last year, Gardner was charged with misdemeanor sexual battery for allegedly groping, fondling and kissing a 26-year-old Payson woman during a car trip. Gardner pleaded no contest to reduced assault charges as part of a plea deal. Gardner also had his third DUI arrest in May, to which he pleaded guilty and spent 10 days in jail. He is currently on probation for that charge.