Woman Gets 2 Years In Jail For Throwing "McMissile" At Car

[matcom]

<snip>

To the locals, it's the "McMissile" case.

And like the name, the details of it spill forth like a bad joke: A woman is driving north on Interstate 95. Three kids squirm in the back seat, and her sister, six months pregnant and having early contractions, sits in the front. The stress starts to simmer. Traffic slows, then crawls, then creeps. More stress. A car cuts in front of her, then scoots away. A short time later, it darts in again. She can no longer take it. She veers onto the shoulder and speeds up. Wham! She tosses a large McDonald's cup filled with ice into the other car.

A Stafford County jury convicted Jessica Hall, 25, of maliciously throwing a missile into an occupied vehicle. (By Carol Guzy -- The Washington Post)

"From my side, I heard a whoomp," recalled the woman's sister, LaJeanna Porter, 27. "I was like, 'I know you didn't throw that cup.' She said, 'Yes I did.' "

Neither woman foresaw the seemingly supersize repercussions of that misguided moment July 2.

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.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/17/AR2007021701560.html

[jpgray]

1. That's fucking insane

Both the throwing of the cup AND the punishment. Both are insane.

[rustydog]

5. The law calls for two years, the judge can impose a lesser sentence

This story should be followed up on..I bet the sentence is around 90-days.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. Here I was thinking it was a clever name for an IED. (nt)

[Tektonik]

3. the lady was crazy for doing that, but.....

2 years? jesus

[philosophie_en_rose]

4. I don't condone her behavior, but the punishment is excessive.

:bounce:

[ChoralScholar]

6. I was on the receiving end of one of these,

where a cup of ice was thrown into the windshield of a band bus, by a rival football team. 10 children and the bus driver went to the hospital with lacerations, and glass in their eyes.

Would 2 years be excessive in that case?

[Burma Jones]

7. Update - the launcher gets probation, but may be wanted in CO and MS

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022100871.html