Now back to the real world. And another would-be Romeo. That would be former Penn professor Tracy McIntosh, a Nether Providence resident.

For the next three to seven years, McIntosh, once one of the world’s pre-eminent brain trauma researchers, will reside in jail.

He was sentenced Wednesday for the sexual assault of a Penn grad student.

This case has been ugly from the start. But it turned bizarre when McIntosh initially entered into a plea deal that allowed him to avoid jail time, instead doing 11 to 23 months on house arrest, in no small part because of his reputation and his work in the research and treatment of brain injuries.

When that deal became public, an outcry erupted. District Attorney Lynn Abraham appealed. State Superior Court ordered McIntosh to be resentenced.

The next bizarre twist were allegations that the assistant district attorney was aware of the deal, and the no-jail-time sentence, even while passionately arguing in favor of a lengthy prison sentence.

The original judge in the case recused himself because of the controversy.
Yesterday, McIntosh stood in front of Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe. She threw the book at him.

Something else you should know about this case. The victim was not a stranger to McIntosh. The woman’s uncle was an old friend of McIntosh. In fact, he’s godfather to one of his two children.

McIntosh was showing the woman around campus, which led to dinner and a night of drinking. Police allege McIntosh took her back to his campus office, gave her marijuana, then had sex with her. He was initially charged with rape. That eventually was reduced to sexual assault.

In her sentencing, Dembe made reference to McIntosh’s apparent habit of harassing women who worked for him.

For his part, McIntosh accepted responsibility for his “shameful behavior” and the “incalculable pain” he has put the victim through.

But he also sought leniency from the court, saying he was a changed man.

Of course this came after a motion to withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial was rejected.

Dembe had some other grim news for McIntosh. She was ordering him jailed immediately. The stunned professor was escorted out of court by sheriff’s deputies.
He will spend Valentine’s Day behind bars.

It won’t stop the questions that have surrounded this case from the start, but it will put a final, declarative exclamation point on it.

Justice delayed. Yes, this case had more twists and turns than a Philly soft pretzel. But in the end it was justice served.