The Ohio Supreme Court on Friday rebuked a former U.S. prosecutor who admitted to sexual misconduct but said the attorney can continue practicing law with no interruption, drawing a dissent from a justice who called the ruling a “step in the wrong direction.”

The justices in a 4-2 decision said Mark Bennett, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Akron, deserved to be suspended for two years for misconduct involving a 24-year-old law school intern who was working in his office.

The order said the suspension would be put on hold, however, unless Bennett commits any further misconduct.

Bennett’s lawyer, Richard Koblentz, said they were “gratified the court saw it was appropriate not to remove him from the practice of law.”

Bennett did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The justices’ punishment was greater than what Bennett had recommended — a six-month “stayed” suspension — but it was less than what an Ohio attorney ethics board had urged the justices to impose.

The Board of Professional Conduct said Bennett should lose his license for six months for “open and notorious” unprofessional behavior.

Friday’s decision said that Bennett, who was a prosecutor from 2007 until he resigned in 2020, had asked the intern to send him nude photos and discussed his marital sex life with her.

The intern also said she believed Bennett inappropriately touched her breasts with the back of his hand in a law library in the U.S. attorney’s office.

Bennett has expressed regret and remorse for his misconduct, the Ohio justices said in Friday’s order.

In her dissent, Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy said Bennett “demeaned both the legal profession and his government office” and he should temporarily lose his license.

Kennedy said the majority ruling will “tell attorneys and the public alike that an attorney in a position of power can continue to sexually harass a law-student intern for over two years, inappropriately touch that intern, and not face any actual time away from practicing law.”

The state Office of Disciplinary Counsel backed Bennett’s argument for a stayed licensed suspension.

The disciplinary office and Bennett’s lawyer said the behavior at issue was inappropriate but “does not rise to the same level as conduct where the court imposed actual suspensions.”

Bennett registered a law office in 2020 in northern Ohio, state records show. His website said his areas of practice include defense work, internal investigations and commercial litigation.