Russell MacKinnon is serving house arrest for breach of trust, and now there is a suggestion the former MLA should be charged with contempt of court.

MacKinnon pleaded guilty to a charge of breach of trust on March 15 and was sentenced to four months house arrest at his 3.2-acre estate on the Northwest Arm in Halifax.

It was in his former riding of Cape Breton West that MacKinnon claimed false expenses of nearly $11,000. That was seven years ago, when he was nearing the end of 15 years of service as an MLA.

Although he signed a statement of facts in court, MacKinnon told CTV News last week that he doesn’t believe he did anything wrong, and that his guilty plea wasn’t really an admission of guilt.

“The reason I pleaded guilty to breach of trust was a matter of legal process,” he said.

His claim isn’t sitting well with his former constituents, and some people say it sounds like contempt of court.

Law professor Wayne MacKay says there isn’t anything illegal about MacKinnon’s comments, but he was surprised by them.

“In retrospect at least, it certainly was not a good strategy,” says MacKay. “It may be disrespectful, it may be ill-advised, but I doubt it’s contempt.”

Prosecutors will not be proceeding with charges, but while MacKinnon seems to have avoided more legal trouble, he continues to deal with what some say is a public relations nightmare.

“People are outraged and it seems to be adding insult to injury,” says public relations specialist Michael Dunn.

MacKinnon tells CTV News the interview was the appropriate thing to do because he felt he owed the media and the people of Nova Scotia an explanation of his point-of-view.

But Dunn says he would have advised MacKinnon not to do the interview - at least not now and not in that way - if he had been asked.

“This was too much, too fast, and it was too powerful, too potent,” says Dunn.

“I think his timing and his approach were off. I think the public and the debate were still too hot. The ink of his guilty conviction was still too wet.”

MacKay says the fallout is unfortunate for both MacKinnon and the legal system.

“‘For court purposes I plead guilty, but really I did nothing wrong’ is kind of a strange statement to make if you take the court system seriously,” he says.

MacKinnon says he doesn’t regret doing the interview, but he won’t be doing anymore.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell