The former chief spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford pleaded guilty to criminal domestic violence charges Wednesday as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

Will Folks, 31, was sentenced to 30 days in jail, but that was suspended on the condition that he attend anger management classes and stay out of trouble for six months.

Within hours of his guilty plea and apologies to the victim’s family in court, Folks denied any wrongdoing.

“I did not apologize to her because I didn’t do anything to her,” Folks told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Attempts to reach city Judge Lincoln Jenkins III and prosecutor Christa Bell about Folks’ profession of innocence soon after a guilty plea were unsuccessful.

Folks was charged with kicking open the door to a home he shared with his then-fiancee Ashley Smith and shoving her into a piece of furniture.

Before Wednesday’s hearing in a Richland County court, Folks had maintained his innocence, but said he wanted to plead guilty to put the matter behind him.

In a statement before Jenkins, Folks apologized to Smith’s family and his own family and friends.

“From the very beginning of this process, I sought not to smear or misrepresent, but to protect the victim in this case,” he said.

But Smith, a State House lobbyist who once advocated on behalf of Sanford’s signature education proposal, disagreed.

In a statement read in court, she accused Folks of offering “lies and misrepresentations” about the case in a column he wrote for The State newspaper in August titled, “My Side of the Domestic Violence Story.”

“I felt that having the case tried in the court of public opinion was wrong,” Smith said. “Even after all that has happened, I don’t wish to see any harm come to Will.”

Laura Hudson, a spokeswoman for the S.C. Victim Assistance Network who sat with Smith during Wednesday’s hearing, said Folks’ repeated claims of innocence after he pleaded guilty are puzzling.

“I don’t think he gets it,” she said. “This is the court, not some spin-doctoring of the media.”

Folks gained notoriety in state political circles for his often acerbic comments while working for Sanford for four years.

He announced he was resigning in July to start his own political consulting firm.

The incident with Smith, whom he was to marry in November, occurred several days later.

Police say Smith told them that Folks had broken down the door of their Columbia home during a fight. She later said he also had shoved her into the furniture.

Police photographs reviewed by Jenkins on Wednesday show bruising on Smith’s back, leg and arm.

Smith’s attorney, Larry Richter, asked the judge to consider what he called a pattern of Folks’ bad behavior including alcohol abuse. Richter provided no evidence to support the claims.

Folks’ lawyer, Debbie Chapman, said Richter’s charges were unfair.

Before handing down his sentence, Jenkins advised Folks and Smith to move on — and ordered them to stay away from each other.

“Life doesn’t always turn out the way we think,” Jenkins said. “I’m not going to tell you what happened is for the best; I don’t know that.”

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer called the case a “sad and unfortunate situation.”

“The governor is going to keep everyone involved in his thoughts and prayers,” Sawyer said.

Folks earlier said part of the reason he planned to plead guilty was because Sanford indicated he didn’t believe he was innocent.

When asked about his arrest in August, Sanford said Folks made “a very tragic and stupid mistake.”

Reach Stensland at (803) 771-8358 or jstensland@thestate.com.