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

[mdoyle]

That sentence is too harsh for the crime, with that said, its a good example of why as a parent you don't do stupid ****, especially with your kids in the car.

The Judge was an idiot for assigning jail time under those circumstances in the first place, you don't serve that kind of time for a whole array of worse offenses.

[dеiтайожни]

I think we can all learn a valuable lesson from this. If someone pisses you off on the road, don't throw random crap at them... follow them until they stop and beat the shit out of them with a bat. You'll get less prison time!

[KenP]

Hopefully the judge will reduce that ridiculas sentence.

[Mr. I - Man]

Damn I should be serving a life sentence for all the trucker bombs, copenhagen spit cups and full yogurts, I deployed via surface to surface strikes from my jeep during my troubled youth.

[KenP]

Reduced to probation just now.

[frenzy1]

^^thats more like it !

[dеiтайожни]

I bet it was our posts that changed the Judge's mind.

[KenP]

Originally Posted by dеiтайожни

I bet it was our posts that changed the Judge's mind.

It did. I pm'd a link to this thread to him right before he was to rule. He told me it was all of you that brought him to earth so he could rule properly.

[dеiтайожни]

I knew it. Just another day at the Elcova forums... Changing the world... one post at a time. Well, I feel quite accomplished for the day, time to fire up the grill. If there are anymore people's lives that need to be saved, call me on the cell and I'll post right away.

[IlikeHummers]

Here's a post for our two border patrol agents for shooting some scum bag illegal drug dealer in the butt. 12 years... Harsh to say the least!

[DennisAJC]

Originally Posted by dеiтайожни

I knew it. Just another day at the Elcova forums... Changing the world... one post at a time. Well, I feel quite accomplished for the day, time to fire up the grill. If there are anymore people's lives that need to be saved, call me on the cell and I'll post right away.

The thread "What part of the human body has the tenderest meat" inspired a cook book in Nigeria.

[bparker]

Or just smile and silently follow them home and rub them out silently in thier garage and go home free =)

Originally Posted by dеiтайожни

I think we can all learn a valuable lesson from this. If someone pisses you off on the road, don't throw random crap at them... follow them until they stop and beat the shit out of them with a bat. You'll get less prison time!

[KenP]

Originally Posted by IlikeHummers

Here's a post for our two border patrol agents for shooting some scum bag illegal drug dealer in the butt. 12 years... Harsh to say the least!

That really pisses me off.

[ROX]

I would imagine she threw the ice because it was in her hand. I wonder what her sentence would have been if she'd have thrown a stuffed animal? Or a breakfast burrito?

My Son is reading as I type so I can't say more....

[DennisAJC]

Originally Posted by H2 Rocks

My Son is reading as I type so I can't say more....

You could've typed Personal Massager and he wouldn't have understood.

[timgco]

Originally Posted by H2 Rocks

I would imagine she threw the ice because it was in her hand. I wonder what her sentence would have been if she'd have thrown a stuffed animal? Or a breakfast burrito?

My Son is reading as I type so I can't say more....

She should have through one of her kids at them. That'd teach em.

[Boar-Ral]

I was reading a news article about this yesterday and the prosecution told the media about a story in the same area where three teenagers died in a car crash a couple years ago after someone through something through their window. I cannot remember what it was, but it was about as harmless as ice. So I can see how this situation could have turned ugly.

I am not sure if it would have justified the two years that she could have received, but it does slant things a bit more towards justifiable. I think probation was a suitable punishment.

[DRTYFN]

There's more to this story than is being reported.

[DennisAJC]

But if the guy cut her off a third time, causing a wreck, possibly harming or killing the occupants, that prick would have kept driving or would have gotten a charge for wreckless driving and probation. Or worst yet, being ruled as an accident.