Mercury News: Major guilty plea in Santa Clara County gun permit corruption case

A man charged in a landmark corruption case that accused top Santa Clara County sheriff commanders of favor-trading concealed-gun permits has pleaded guilty, becoming the first indicted defendant convicted from a scandal that ultimately led to former sheriff Laurie Smith’s ouster under heavy political and legal scrutiny.

Michael Adrian Nichols, 48, a Milpitas-based gunmaker, admitted in court Thursday to one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to solicit a bribe in connection with a 2020 indictment alleging that he — along with a political fundraiser for Smith, a sheriff’s captain and an attorney friend — brokered a deal for a large donation supporting Smith’s 2018 re-election to obtain concealed-gun permits for a security firm’s employees.

The charge was reduced from a felony as part of a negotiated plea with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, which also entails a one-year sentence in county jail. How that sentence will be served, whether in custody or through an alternative method such as electronic monitoring, remains to be seen.