INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ A judge has thrown out four felony counts of official misconduct against Indiana's former top utility regulator.
 
  Marion Superior Court Judge William Nelson ruled Monday that David Lott Hardy's behavior in connection with the Duke Energy ethics scandal wasn't criminal.
 
  However, The Indianapolis Star reports Nelson scolded Hardy for “betraying the trust'' of Indiana citizens and engaging in “reprehensible'' conduct.
 
  Hardy was charged with not disclosing several meetings with Duke executives about cost overruns at the $3.3 billion Edwardsport coal-gasification power plant. Then-Gov. Mitch Daniels fired Hardy as chairman of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission in 2010.
 
  The Indiana Court of Appeals denied Hardy's request to throw out the charges in December, but Hardy renewed his request at the trial court level.