Judge Norbert Nadel holds a photo taken in the morgue as he asks photographer Thomas Condon about the significance of the ladder. (Michael E. Keating photos) | ZOOM |

        Thomas Condon took a deep breath before launching into what had to be the most intense apology of his life.

        With his family watching, the 30-year-old commercial photographer told a Hamilton County judge Tuesday that he never intended to cause anyone harm when he placed inanimate objects on autopsied bodies and took hundreds of photographs.

        “Artists want to convey and show how society deals with death,” Mr. Condon said. “If I had known the outcome of my actions, I would never have revealed their identities. There's no worth in (hurting people) to me — emotionally or artistically.

        “I hope the families can heal. I am sorry.”

        But Common Pleas Judge Norbert Nadel would have none of it.

        Calling Mr. Condon's photo project “the worst form of invasion of privacy,” the judge sentenced the photographer to 2 1/2 years in prison.

        Mr. Condon's co-defendant, Dr. Jonathan Tobias, 32, a former Hamilton County Morgue pathology fellow, was sentenced to five months in the county Justice Center. He was also ordered to serve one year of probation and perform 250 hours of community service.

Mr. Condon (right) said the ladder was symbolic and defended the artistic nature of his photos. | ZOOM |

        Dr. Tobias was accused of helping Mr. Condon gain access to the bodies. They were ordered to turn themselves in on April 29.

        Each had been charged with multiple counts of abusing corpses stemming from hundreds of negatives discovered last year during a police search of Mr. Condon's Walnut Hills studio.

        The images depicted autopsied bodies from the Hamilton County morgue that had been posed with inanimate objects such as sheet music, doll house furniture and a snail shell.

        One image showed the hands of a 2-year-old boy wrapped with plastic. In another, a man's body was posed with an apple, while another showed a woman with a key between her lips.

Condon

Tobias

        During trial, Mr. Condon and Dr. Tobias argued that morgue officials knew what Mr. Condon was doing. He'd been allowed access to the morgue in order to produce a training video. He said he was given permission to pursue his personal work.

        “It was a very honest, artistic endeavor,” Mr. Condon said of his actions between August 2000 and January 2001.

        Robert Folchi, father of Christina Folchi, a 19-year-old car accident victim whose body was photographed by Mr. Condon, told the judge that he questions the professionalism of the county morgue.

        Sue Goodman, whose brother Perry Melton was a subject of Mr. Condon's photos, said her brother would never have given his permission to allow Mr. Condon to photograph him.

        Death is a common subject among artists, Mr. Condon said, adding that he'd hoped to help alleviate the stigma surrounding one of life's inevitable outcomes.

        Charles Desmarais, director of Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, said art had nothing to do with Mr. Condon's conviction on eight counts of gross abuse of a corpse.

Chris Jones, Thomas Condon's sister, and Kathy Condon, his mother, react as Judge Norbert Nadel sentences Mr. Condon to 2 1/2 years in prison. | ZOOM |

        “There is a great tradition of art in general and photography in particular of depicting the dead,” Mr. Desmarais said. “The subject that Condon took on and the way he did it was transgressive. If one moves into dangerous territory like that, there could be very dangerous consequences.”

        Attorneys for Mr. Condon and Dr. Tobias have filed requests with the 1st District Court of Appeals asking that their clients be allowed to remain free on bond pending appeal.

        Marc Mezibov, Dr. Tobias' attorney, said he would appeal his client's conviction on a number of grounds, including comments made by Judge Nadel during Tuesday's sentencing.

        Twice the judge referred to a civil suit filed by the relatives of those in Mr. Condon's photos, saying that it could cost the county and the taxpayers considerably.

        Dr. Tobias, convicted of two counts of abuse of a corpse, declined to discuss the case in detail before the judge.

        He said he was complying with the advice of his attorney.

        As a result of his conviction, the doctor's medical license is in jeopardy. He faces an inquiry by the state medical board.

        Judge Nadel chided Dr. Tobias for “failing to step up to the plate” and address relatives of the subjects of Mr. Condon's pictures.

        Judge Nadel questioned why Dr. Tobias would risk a promising medical career for Mr. Condon's “idiotic” project.
       

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