Prison Time for throwing ice???!!

[ROX]

(Feb. 21) - A mother of three was sentenced to two years in prison by a jury for throwing a cup of ice into a car that cut her off in traffic. A judge can still reduce the sentence Wednedsay.

Jessica Hall, a North Carolina mother, drove down I-95 on a hot, sticky and gridlocked day with three kids whimpering in the back of the car, a pregnant sister in the front of the car and her husband serving his third tour of duty in Iraq .

Suddenly, the same car cut in front of Hall twice, and it was more than she could take. She snapped.

She tossed a large McDonald's cup filled with ice into the other car.

"It was a dumb decision to do what I did," Hall said later.

Hall's outburst didn't do any real damage, but it did land her in prison with a two-year sentence.

"I had to drop everything, all my life, my kids, everything," Hall said.

Her three kids are living with relatives until her husband gets back from Iraq.

"It's tearing the family apart. You know, we're holding on by really thin threads," said Jesse Hall, the woman's father. "One of the little girls asked that question 'is my momma coming home?' and I say soon."

Does the punishment fit the crime?

"What's disturbing about this case is the real lack of proportionality in the sentencing," Court TV's Lisa Bloom said. "Two years in prison, two years for her kids not to have a parent. That seems unduly harsh."

Even the occupants of the other car — sticky and angry at the time — are shocked at the final sentence.

But the prosecutor argued that the cup was a missile and could have caused major damage.

"But I'm sure prosecutors want to send a message by saying acts of road rage are unacceptable," Bloom said. "They're violent, they cause injuries and it's going to stop right here with this case."


Copyright 2007 ABCNEWS.com

2007-02-21 07:49:25