Prosecutors are seeking a six-month jail term for former Dalton McGuinty chief of staff David Livingston, convicted of having computer drives wiped following decisions to scrap gas-fired power plants before the 2011 election.

“Only real jail will adequately denounce his conduct and deter others,” Crown attorneys Tom Lemon, Sarah Egan and Ian Bell said in a submission Monday.

Livingston’s attempt to stymie requests for details on the politically sensitive closures by a legislative committee of MPPs and the public through freedom-of-information requests was “planned and deliberate,” they added.

“It was not for Livingston or others in the premier’s office to unilaterally decide what the public should or should not know about the gas plant controversy.”

Defence lawyer Brian Gover called on Justice Timothy Lipson for a conditional discharge as one of the two convictions against Livingston — attempted mischief to a computer — was stayed Monday at the opening of the sentencing hearing.

“He’ll be sentenced solely for unauthorized use of a computer,” defence lawyer Brian Gover told reporters.

The count was stayed because legal precedents prohibit more than one conviction on the same essential point, more commonly known as “double jeopardy,” Gover said.

He introduced 28 character references for Livingston, a career TD Bank executive who led Infrastructure Ontario before serving as chief of staff to McGuinty during his last 10 months as premier, ending in February 2013.

Livingston was repeatedly described as an honourable man, widely respected in senior positions at the bank and for his work at the government’s infrastructure agency pioneering public-private partnerships, as well as for charity work and donations.

Livingston’s wife, Anne Grittani, said they have suffered “great financial loss” from legal fees in the case along with worry that he could end up behind bars.

“The anxiety hangs over us,” she wrote in a letter read into the court record.

Gover said Livingston’s “exemplary character should be given very serious consideration by this court.”

But Lemon cautioned Justice Timothy Lipson “that only goes so far” because only a person of good character can rise to become a premier’s chief of staff. “Such a person must be held to a high standard.”

Lipson said the sentencing will be “very difficult and complex” given the lack of similar cases but suggested Livingston can expect to do some community service.

“The gentleman has a lot to offer,” added Lipson, who in his Jan. 19 conviction blamed Livingston for a “dishonest” scheme to protect McGuinty’s Liberals from fallout over the cancellations of plants in Oakville and Mississauga.

The sentencing hearing continues Tuesday, with Lipson expected to reserve his decision.

Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk has found the cancellations and decisions to move the plants to the Napanee and Sarnia areas will cost up to $1.1 billion over 20 years.

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Opposition parties said the cancellations and moving costs prove the Liberals were willing to sacrifice public dollars to protect their own interests.

McGuinty was not a subject of the investigation and co-operated with the OPP investigation.

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