Former Pittsburgh Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle was sentenced to serve 12 to 24 months and ordered to return $43,100 to the city yesterday after expressing remorse for her central role in a multi-year kickback scheme.

At a sentencing hearing, Ms. Carlisle said that she was "earnestly sorry for any misdoings and all misdoings" during her five years on council.

She said she was elected to change the fortunes of Council District 9 in the city's northeast, and tried to do right. "Out of zealousness, maybe I did do things in an improper manner," she said. She found herself in a maelstrom. "Everything that I stood for in terms of trying to be perfect, right and just, just went haywire."

Assistant District Attorney Lawrence N. Claus, though, noted that she passed up opportunities to say she was sorry, even complaining in a November resignation letter that she couldn't "continue to volunteer my services" after the court seized her wages and pension contributions.

Common Pleas Judge John A. Zottola did not seem swayed by the last-minute semi-apology.

"You had great promise at one time, but now you've squandered all of that," he told the 49-year-old East Hills resident before imposing a sentence with "equal shares of sadness and outrage."

He said jail time is often avoided for first-time offenders in financial crimes, but added that there "is another place in the law for those who plot and scheme on an ongoing basis to create a criminal enterprise."

Unless she appeals, her sentence will start March 10. Defense attorney Patrick J. Thomassey said he would file a motion asking that she serve the time in the Allegheny County Jail or at home. Mr. Claus said the sentence mandates time in a state penitentiary, and that he would oppose anything short of that.

Ms. Carlisle will lose the $23,396 she has contributed to the city pension fund since she was hired as a council aide in 1994, plus around $20,000 she paid into a privately managed deferred compensation plan. The court will decide what to do with a fur coat she bought with taxpayer money, which Mr. Claus said was appraised at $2,500. She may be allowed to keep that, he said.

Judge Zottola said the restitution money must go for the improvement of her council district. Councilman Ricky Burgess, who ousted Ms. Carlisle in last year's election, said the money would be put in a trust fund for anti-crime efforts, and distributed using a competitive process like the United Way employs.

State law bars Ms. Carlisle from ever again holding public office.

"They have stripped her of everything except her integrity," said Denise Jones, a friend of Ms. Carlisle and one of eight people who testified on her behalf, asking for leniency.

Another friend of Ms. Carlisle, publisher Luther Sewell, said she was repeatedly chosen by his Talk Magazine as one of Pittsburgh's most influential women.

At one time, she was a single yes vote away from council's presidency. Then a pattern of misspending came to light. District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.'s office uncovered some 80 instances in which the city paid three consultants who promptly gave part of their earnings to Ms. Carlisle.

"I'm not a criminal-minded person," said Sheryl Ann Pinson-Smith, a co-conspirator who worked in Ms. Carlisle's office until her resignation. "I truly apologize for what transpired."

She was sentenced to eight to 23 months in jail or a halfway house yesterday.

Lee O. Johnson, housemate to Ms. Carlisle's mother, is scheduled to be tried on March 18 for his role in the scheme. The third, Darlene Durham, cooperated with prosecutors and is to be sentenced April 14.

The maximum sentence for Ms. Carlisle's 17 corruption, ethics and reporting crimes would have been 110 years and $170,000 in fines, said Mr. Claus. He argued that sentencing guidelines suggested three to 12 years in prison for a first offender, while Mr. Thomassey said zero to nine years was the proper range.

The key questions before Judge Zottola were whether Ms. Carlisle was remorseful, and what kind of sentence might serve as a deterrent to others.