CITY COUNCILMAN OFFERED PLEA DEAL

February 28, 2008 -- The Queens district attorney has offered a new plea deal to embattled City Councilman and accused rapist Dennis Gallagher that would keep him out of jail and off the sex-offender registry - but force him to resign from office, The Post has learned.
It's not clear if Gallagher, who maintains his innocence, will accept the last-ditch deal before DA Richard Brown seeks a new indictment next week on charges the politician raped and assaulted a woman he had met in a bar last June 8, sources said yesterday.

Gallagher's attorney, Benjamin Brafman, and the District Attorney's Office refused comment.
The Republican councilman from Queens had rejected an earlier plea bargain in which he would have admitted to a felony assault and not served time, sources said.
It was unclear if that deal included resigning from office.

The case then went to a grand jury, but a judge tossed out the indictment and said there was "prosecutorial misconduct" related to the personal questions Gallagher was asked.
The judge ruled that Brown could impanel a new grand jury, which begins work next week.
Among the differences in this new round of negotiations is reducing the assault charge from a serious felony to a misdemeanor and giving Gallagher a conditional discharge, which means no jail time or probation if he stays out of trouble, sources said.

It's unclear whether the misdemeanor charge would be assault or sexual misconduct, although he would not be required to register as a sex offender.
Sources said prosecutors want it to be part of the record that his 52-year-old alleged victim, who says he picked her up in a Middle Village bar, was under the influence and unable to consent to sex.

Prosecutors have maintained that Gallagher, a father of two, offered to drive the woman home, but instead brought her to his campaign office, forced her to have sex and injured her knees.
Gallagher, free on $200,000 bail, has maintained the sex was consensual.
But a source said he has engaged in plea talks to avoid the "embarrassment" of a trial.
Yesterday, the alleged victim was stunned to learn she had not been told of the DA's new offer.
"I have not heard of any changes in the case," she said.
"If that was the case, then I think they would have told me."
Gallagher was elected to the council in 2001 and represents Middle Village. After the arrest, he resigned his position as minority whip.