Susan Finkelstein says she's disappointed by the guilty ruling brought against her in the sex-for-World Series tickets case, but it's safe to say she's still a Phanatic.
A jury found Finkelstein guilty of Criminal Attempt of Prostitution Thursday stemming from an October 2009 Internet and in-person exchange between the woman and a Bensalem Police officer. She was found not guilty on a second charge of Prostitution.
"I'm very disappointed that it was not, not guilty on both counts," Finkelstein said standing outside the courtroom.
"I still don't think I committed any crime by putting a funny ad up and going to talk to someone about tickets," she said.
The 44-year-old married mother posted an ad on Craigslist in the midst of the Phillies '09 World Series run asking for tickets.
In the ad, she described herself a creative "gorgeous tall buxom blond" who was "in desperate need" of tickets. An undercover Bensalem officer answered the ad and then after a series of digital exchanges, the two met at a Bucks County pub.
The officer testified Finkelstein had a condom in her purse, made suggestive comments including "I'm a prostitute. I'm a whore," sent him nude cell phone photos and exposed herself to him during the meeting.
Finkelstein denies ever calling herself a prostitute or agreeing to offer sexual favors for the tickets, but some of the other claims were substantiated.
"It's 2010, it's not a crime to have a condom in your purse, it's not a crime to flirt and it's not a crime to text partially nude photos of yourself," defense attorney Bill Brennan said.
Brennan plans to file post-trial motion asking for a mistrial, but would only say that it surrounded evidence submitted during trial.
If the motion is denied, he expects Finkelstein to be sentenced within two months.
Attempt of Prostitution carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison, but prosecutor Steven Jones says he's not sure if Finkelstein's actions justify such a sentence.
"I'm not sure that this type of crime really warrants that type of incarceration," Jones said. "But that's not really for me to decide."
Brennan petitioned to have Finkelstein entered into a probation program, but prosecutors denied the request since she had been in the program decades before.
"She unfortunately couldn't receive that her because she previously received it for another charge," prosecutor Steven Jones said.
Finkelstein says she's glad the whole ordeal is almost over, but doesn’t deny the toll the case has taken.
"It is a relief that all of this is finally over, but the waiting, kind of having my life in limbo in the meantime, has been tremendously stressful for everybody."
The West Philadelphia woman says she lost her job because of the case and says that people now recognize her when she walks through the city.
Finkelstein even took a shot at prosecutors alluding to a possible political motive as the reason her case was made an example of.
"I'm not really sure…why I was not given the same treatment as other women who would be arrested for the same crime as a first offense," Finkelstein said. "So I don’t know if there's a political agenda or some other reason.
As for Finkelstein's husband, he says always did and still continues to support Susan and questions what it would be like if he had tried to get tickets in the same manner.
"If I had gone out in an attempt to purchase tickets from a female, would that in some way make me suspect, uh, as a person who's going to do something?" John LaVoy asked.
Regardless of what the sentence may be Finkelstein says she can take solace in one fact: the new Phillies season is about to begin.
"I'm looking forward to the new Phillies season, a lot," she said.
