News & Politics - Two years for throwing ice...

GhostWriter · 02-21-2007, 08:46 PM

I'd been looking at this and I'd like to see what other's say about it, so here are two articles about it.

Quote:

STAFFORD, Va. - A mother of three who threw a cup of ice into a car that cut her off on Interstate 95 was spared a two-year prison term Wednesday, but she's not getting out of jail just yet.

Jessica Hall, 25, of Jacksonville, N.C., was sentenced to probation for the offense - dubbed the "McMissile" case because she threw a McDonald's cup filled with ice.

But before Hall's release, authorities discovered she was wanted in Mississippi for allegedly writing bad checks. She denies it.

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* Woman Who Threw Ice at Driver Gets Probation

Hall's family has agreed to pay the amount owed on the checks, and the charges will be dropped. She could be released from jail Thursday morning.

Last month, a jury found her guilty of maliciously throwing a missile into an occupied vehicle, a felony in Virginia with a minimum sentence of two years in prison.

"The facts of this case ... suggest that the sentence in this case should be reduced," Stafford Circuit Judge Frank A. Hoss Jr. told Hall, who thanked the judge and cried.

Hall, who has been in Rappahannock Regional Jail since Jan. 4, also will have to pay fines and court costs related to three other charges, including reckless driving and assault. As a condition of her sentencing, she must remain on good behavior for five years.

Hall's husband is serving his third tour in Iraq.

Stafford County Commonwealth's Attorney Daniel M. Chichester said Hall's actions were serious, even though no one was injured.

"It is important to remember that it is not what is thrown but the danger created by that act," Chichester said in a statement. He cited a similar case in Stafford about six years ago in which three teenagers were killed when an egg was thrown at a car.

"There was no peril," said defense attorney Terrence Patton. "There was no danger."

On a sticky day in July, Hall was driving north on Interstate 95 with her children and her sister. Traffic had slowed to a crawl when, she said, another car cut her off twice. Angered, she flung the cup into the other car, where it flew across the driver and landed all over his girlfriend.

The driver of the other car, Pete Ballin, 36, and his girlfriend, Eliza Fowle, 28, were heading home to Washington, D.C., after visiting her father in North Carolina.

Hall, who was driving from North Carolina to New York for a family party, said she was trying to keep up with her father's truck when Ballin cut in front of her the second time, causing her to swerve onto the shoulder.

From Woman Who Threw Ice at Driver Gets Probation

Quote:

Have you seen this case about a woman who in a fit of road rage threw a cup of McDonald's ice into another car and was sentenced to two years in prison?

No one was injured, but the cup launcher, Jessica Hall, 25, of Jacksonville, N.C., was charged and convicted by a Stafford County jury of maliciously throwing a missile into an occupied vehicle, a felony in Virginia. The instructions given to the jury said that "any physical object can be considered a missile. A missile can be propelled by any force, including throwing."

Hall, a mother of three young children whose husband is serving his third tour in Iraq, has spent more than a month in jail.

The jury sentenced her to two years in prison, the minimum, and a judge will formally impose a sentence Wednesday. Under state law, the judge can only decrease the jury's sentence.

"We didn't think it would go this far," Hall said in an interview at the Rappahannock Regional Jail. "Two years! What did I do?"

Two years in prison seems excessive for throwing ice; I have seen offenders get less time for actually doing serious damage to people with their stupidity. Was McMissile mom's act of road rage reasonable? Of course not, but neither was a jury's decision to put her in jail for two years. What do you think?

Update: "The 25-year-old military wife convicted of throwing a cup of ice into a car that cut her off on Interstate 95 in Virginia has been sentenced to probation.

Jessica Hall of Jacksonville, North Carolina has been in jail for more than a month since her bond was revoked by a Stafford County judge. A jury had recommended that Hall serve two years in prison, but the judge noted Wednesday that Hall has no criminal record and placed her on probation for the felony conviction." Thanks to Bender for the information.

From Dr. Helen: Would You Like Fries with that Ice?

I'm going to reserve my own personal comments on this for a bit. I want to know whether or not you thought the first sentencing was too much.

migamoo · 02-21-2007, 10:04 PM

My first reaction is to laugh, but I don't think I quite have an opinion on this yet.

**sunnykerr** · 02-22-2007, 07:08 AM

I think jail time is a little harsh in the sentence department, though we do know that these things tend to escalate so it's probably good to keep an eye on offenders. So I'm glad the original sentence was commuted.

Back boggles my mind, though, is that two years is the same sentence given to those parents who kept their handicapped children boxed up. The inequalities of the justice system boggle my mind. A cup of ice is the same as boxing up children???

Nab · 02-22-2007, 05:11 PM

Sunny, I thought the same thing when I read this. Our justice system is just so mind boggling. Abuse your kids? Two years in jail. Throw a cup of ice into a car? Two years in jail. Download movies/tv/music? Three or five years plus fines. Rape someone? You could get as little as two years in jail.

Seriously.

jayne190 · 02-22-2007, 07:02 PM

I agree with what people have said here in that the sentence was ridiculous; even the sentence that was handed down by the jury was hash. Probation for throwing ice? Come on...Next thing you know people are going to be thrown in jail for tossing an apple core out the window.

By the way a serial rapist is going to be released from a BC jail tomorrow after spending 20 years behind bars and is at high risk to re-offend.

Nab · 02-26-2007, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayne190 (View Post)

By the way a serial rapist is going to be released from a BC jail tomorrow after spending 20 years behind bars and is at high risk to re-offend.

That is just sad.

jalapeno_wildchild · 02-26-2007, 07:10 PM

i don't really know what to say on this one so i'll go with this

Lain · 02-26-2007, 08:23 PM

First of all, I must admit that if she was able to pull that off, then she must have gotten one heck of a throwing arm (normally, it would just end up hitting the car).

Well, as some of you say, our justice system is indeed mind boggling. Sometimes an innocent thing can turn up to be a crime.

-Kelly- · 02-26-2007, 09:29 PM

Wow...

Laira · 02-27-2007, 02:01 PM

She deserved the sentence. That woman could have caused a 50 car pileup.

GhostWriter · 03-04-2007, 12:05 PM

If that's the case, what about almost being run off the road, not once, but twice? Could that also have caused a 50 car pile-up?


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