KAROS GETS 20 MONTHS IN CLUB FED

"Do you really think I deserved this?" a teary Marilyn Karos asked FBI Special Agent James B. Doyle on Monday as she was led in handcuffs from the courtroom of Judge Charles Clevert to immediately begin serving a 20 month period of detention in a federal facility.
Doyle did not answer the 64-year old art dealer's questions, but his actions speak for themselves: it is the second time he has put the Whitefish Bay resident behind bars in four years.


This time it was because of Karos' efforts to secure the release of her lover and former codefendant Richard O'Hara from prison by offering an informant to pay $56,000 to sign a false affidavit.
The affidavit, to be signed by James F. Kosi, would state that an assault on a victim in the original O'Hara trial never happened.
"The assault in question was the basis for O'Hara's racketeering and and extortion conviction," for which he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 2001, according to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Doyle. "Karos insisted that he sign the affidavit to help O'Hara get out of prison."
Instead, Kosi called Doyle, and an investigation was begun that led to the judge's imposition of a sentence considerably harsher than that called for in the presentencing report and plea agreement signed in April, when Karos pled guilty to the charges against her.
In addition to putting Karos under control of the Federal Bureau of Prisons for 20 months, he imposed a $30,000 fine, prohibited any contact with Kosi or O'Hara, demanded she continue mental health treatment, submit to drug tests and barred her from transferring any property of $500 or more in value without the approval of her supervising officer.
Prior to the sentencing, the judge said, "people like you need to be deterred from criminal activity. You do not take an oath seriously. You are prepared to do whatever it takes to have your way.
"I want to make it clear to you and to the world that obstruction of justice is not a trivial matter. ...Respect for the law must be maintained. The court must deter the defendant from similar conduct."
The only surprise at the sentencing hearing was a video tape of a meeting Karos had with Kosi in the Pfister Hotel, as Kosi cooperated with authorities in their probe.
As Kosi pulls some papers out of a plastic grocery bag ("A Polish briefcase," as he put it), he asked Karos, "do you have a boyfriend?"
Karos' face lit up, "Richie!" she exclaimed.
"You're still in love with him," Kosi said.
Meanwhile, as the covertly-recorded tape played in Courtroom 222 of the Federal Building, Karos' husband of 43 years, Dr. Michael Karos, cradled his bald head in his hand.
Doyle was mentioned in the tape, when Karos mentioned an encounter with him at Glorioso Brothers grocery on Brady Street. She said "what? Are you following me?" She also questioned Doyle's intelligence and said "he got Richard by hook or by crook." The tape went on for quite some time, with Karos and Kosi bantering; Kosi making it clear that he was very hesitant to enter into any illegal deal with Karos over the affidavit.
Karos' attorney Stephen M. Glynn said Karos' entire criminal history is entirely based on her relationship with O'Hara, that she is a "psychologically abused person as a consequence of O'Hara" and said the relationship was now over.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Johnson noted that members of Karos' family have visited O'Hara in prison.
Karos had nothing to say when the judge asked if she would like to speak.
He then noted that Karos has been of some assistance to the government in an unnamed investigation in St. Louis.
"You have been helpful to the government while at the same time you make light of the federal government. There is evidence your emotions and hangup on Mr. O'Hara played a role in your conduct. Equally clearly, I need to make apparent to you and the world that the criminal justice system should be respected and not manipulated for some woman's personal reasons." --Michael Horne

[Update: March 16th, 2007 -- According to the Bureau of Prisons website, Ms. Karos is due to be released on April 9th. --Ed.]

[illustration credit: Marilyn Karos at her sentencing by Michael Horne, drawn from life, 31 October 2005]