Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Former Christiansburg attorney Gerard Marks may be considered for Montgomery County's work release or home monitoring programs.

CHRISTIANSBURG -- Disbarred Christiansburg attorney Gerard Marks will serve 11 months in jail for forging judges' signatures and passing fraudulent legal documents, a judge ruled Thursday.

Marks was originally indicted on 21 felony counts of forgery and passing fraudulent legal documents to clients, but 14 of those charges were dropped in November as part of a plea deal. Marks was convicted on the remaining seven forgery charges.

At the time, special prosecutor Joel Branscom said he would seek a sentence of up to two years in prison. But that deal was revised Thursday, minutes before substitute Judge Ford Quillen of Gate City took up the final sentencing.

Under the new deal, Marks will serve 11 months of jail time followed by a year of probation on one of the forgery charges. Quillen agreed to suspend three years of additional jail time on the remaining six forgery charges.

Branscom also suggested, and the judge ordered, that Marks be evaluated as a candidate for the county's home monitoring or work release programs. Quillen granted a two-week deferment of Marks' sentence to allow for that assessment.

First offenses of the kind Marks committed generally result in probation, not jail time, Branscom said.

But because Marks' crimes struck at the heart of the justice system, the prosecutor said they required a stiffer punishment.

Outside the courtroom, Marks thanked Branscom and shook his hand, but declined to comment on the case. To date, Marks has offered no explanation for his actions. News of his legal troubles confounded many of his former colleagues, even Branscom.

The prosecutor said investigators found no evidence of substance abuse or other problems that generally lead to this sort of crime.

"Procrastination, I think, was the problem here," Branscom said. "The types of orders he forged were noncontroversial and could have easily been signed by a judge."

According to a Virginia State Police investigation, between 1999 and 2007 Marks forged the signatures of Montgomery County Circuit Court Judges Bobby Turk and Ray Grubbs on divorce and adoption decrees and other legal paperwork. He then passed those phony documents to several clients, including developer Roger Woody.

Woody tried to use one of the documents, which supposedly granted him an easement across property owned by Larry Shelor and David Hagan, in a court case. The case was dropped when it was found that Marks never filed the document with court officials.

Other victims included parents who thought they had adopted children and spouses who thought they had been granted divorces.

Ray Batiato of Floyd told The Roanoke Times in November that he hired Marks to handle his divorce and was given a final decree that looked to have been signed by Turk.

But when Batiato tried to marry another woman, no official record of the divorce existed. Batiato said the fraud cost him about $12,000.

According to Branscom, Marks has made restitution to many of the victims, some of whom forgave their former attorney and expressed sympathy for him.

As news of Marks' crimes spread, two other victims came forward but declined to press charges, Branscom said.

Unknown victims may still exist, he said.