McMissile Mom ordered free
Q: When is a missile not a missile?
A: When it’s actually a cup of soda from McDonalds.
Earlier yesterday, a weeping Hall, 25, thanked Judge Frank A. Hoss Jr. in Stafford Circuit Court after he reduced a jury’s recommended two-year sentence to the seven weeks she has spent in jail and ordered she serve probation.
Hall, a mother of three young children who lives at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was convicted in January of maliciously throwing a missile into an occupied vehicle. The jury’s recommended sentence was the minimum for the felony charge.
No one was injured in the July 2 incident on Interstate 95 in Stafford, in which Hall threw a cup of ice and soda at another car while in a traffic backup. Eliza Fowle, 28, was a passenger in that vehicle, driven by her boyfriend, Pete Ballin, 36.
The prosecutor, of course, was undeterred by arguments that Hall’s actions were relatively harmless.
Prosecutor George Elsasser argued for imposing the sentence, saying actions such as Hall’s pose a danger. He cited a Stafford case from 2000 in which three teenagers were killed when a teen tossed an egg at their car, leading to a chase.
“The alternative is a free-for-all out on the road,” Elsasser said.
No, the alternative is prosecutors who actually apply reason when deciding whether, and with what, to charge a criminal defendant. Does Elsasser really believe motorists are going to start chucking Dr. Pepper at each other just because they’ll only spend seven weeks in jail instead of two years? Maybe he’s just worried that someone will mess up his best suit.
In all seriousness, this case points out the problems with mandatory minimum sentences. If the judge hadn’t had the opportunity to reduce the sentence, you’d have someone in prison for two years for chucking a beverage.
