A former Harford County councilman who pleaded no contest to theft arising out of allegations that he stole more than $23,000 from a union that he led for more than 50 years can’t get his seat back, a judge ruled on Tuesday.

Harford County Circuit Judge Yolanda L. Curtin threw out a lawsuit that Dion Guthrie, a Democrat, filed against Council President Pat Vincenti, a Republican, to regain the position.

Doug Gansler, Guthrie’s attorney, said they’ve filed a notice of appeal to the Appellate Court of Maryland. They also intend to ask the Maryland Supreme Court to take up the case and decide it on an expedited basis.

“He’s 86 years old. He’s never stolen anything from anybody. He’s been in public service his whole life. He was duly elected to the Harford County Council multiple times,” Gansler said. “And his reputation should not be blemished in any way shape or form by another county councilperson who happens to be of a different political party.”

Gansler previously served as Maryland attorney general from 2007 to 2015, and noted that three out of seven council members have had to go to court to hold their seats. The Harford County Council, he said, seems to be a place where “politics is superseding legal decisions.”

Michael Berman, an attorney with Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC, which represents Vincenti, issued a statement on his behalf.

“However sympathetic one may be, the law is the law,” the statement read. “There is no politics at play. Just the automatic operation of law and the orderly transition upon the removal of a member.”

Guthrie, 86, of Joppa, pleaded no contest on Nov. 14 in Baltimore County Circuit Court to one count of theft between $1,500 and $25,000, a felony. He did not admit guilt but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence to get a conviction.

Prosecutors alleged that Guthrie stole from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1501, which is based in Cockeysville. He served as president and business manager of the union for almost 52 years and agreed to pay about $23,500 in restitution.

“I’m taking responsibility. I’m the president of the union,” Guthrie said in court. “If something happens in there, if somebody else does it, the hit is on me.”

Baltimore County Circuit Judge Dennis M. Robinson Jr. later struck the guilty verdict and gave him probation before judgment.

The Maryland Constitution specifies that elected officials who pleaded guilty or no contest to felonies and certain misdemeanors “shall be removed from the elective office by operation of law and the office shall be deemed vacant.”

Voters adopted a constitutional amendment in 2012 that changed when elected officials charged with certain crimes are suspended or removed from office.

The Harford County Council has since appointed Nolanda Robert to fill the seat.

But in the lawsuit, Guthrie claimed that he did not actually plead no contest to theft. That’s because he asserted the court needed to consent to that action.

Robinson said he was striking the no contest plea before giving him probation before judgment, Guthrie noted.

So far, it’s a legal argument that hasn’t worked.