Road Rage 'McMissile' Moment Lands Mom in Jail - 2 Years

[RamboLiberal]

Oh I feel safer having her in jail for 2 years. :sarcasm: A fine, community service - but 2 years! Is it because she's black. Oh, and her husband is serving in Iraq right now. Even the victims in this case thinks it's overkill.

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

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."

[NanceGreggs]

1. My God ...

... WHAT have we, as a people, become?

[Horse with no Name]

2. we have confronted the enemy

and the enemy is us.

[Jim Sagle]

4. "Just us.".

;(

[MADem]

9. I refuse to concede that. The enemy is an idiot judge who doesn't know how to apply JUSTICE in

deciding a case. The enemy isn't us. The jury sentenced her, and she was plainly guilty--she did toss the sack with the drink ice in it. But the judge applied the sentence--he could have said "Hold up, you sanctimonious bastards, that's a bit excessive"--after all, the jury just recommends, they don't have the final word. And the defense attorney probably didn't even try to crunch down the charges at all, either. And the prosecuting attorney was no doubt thrilled at such a great "get." That 'tough on crime' stuff sells.

Enforcer judges and unmotivated attorneys can do a lot of damage.

Wonder if BushCo put Hizzoner on the bench...?

Plenty of bad behavior to go around with this incident:

Pete Ballin, a Washington man who was also heading north from North Carolina, testified that he was in the left lane going only a few miles per hour when Hall passed him on the shoulder of the highway, then cut in front of him, forcing Ballin to hit his brakes to avoid a collision.

Ballin said he got into the middle lane to get away from Hall, who he said had been driving erratically for some time. He ended up passing her again when the left lane she was in came to a stop.

Ballin said that after he returned to the left lane, Hall got onto the shoulder of the road and passed him again. This time there wasn't room for her to cut back in front of him, and Ballin said he wouldn't have let her in anyway.

Ballin testified that as she passed him the second time, he gave her a gesture expressing exasperation with her driving. A short time later, he said, her car door opened and the McDonald's bag went flying past his face.

After liquid got all over him and his passenger, Eliza Fowle, Ballin said he pulled to the shoulder in part because he wasn't sure what had been thrown into his car.

Ballin said he got back onto the travel lane after a woman got out of Hall's car and moved hurriedly toward his vehicle.

He said Hall continued to follow him into Prince William County, where he saw a state trooper in the median. The trooper, Clinton Preston II, was finishing up paperwork from the fatal wreck that had traffic stalled.

As Ballin was telling Preston what had happened, Hall drove by. Preston stopped her after Ballin pointed her out.

Preston testified that Hall told him she threw the drink at Ballin because he'd angered her by cutting her off several times. She said she didn't mean to hit the passenger, Preston said.....

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/012007/01052007/248844

[melody]

12. exactly, well said n/t

[Az]

10. You need this to go with that

[TheWatcher]

18. It is only the beginning.

It is going to get a lot worse.

[Downtown Hound]

3. A missile?

A cup of ice is a missile? The list of atrocities from the American justice system grows daily. Too many outrages to keep up with.

[achtung_circus]

6. Sadly, I can see it.

Here in Canada, it would be assault, "the application of force, directly or indirectly", possibly assault with a weapon.

BUT any officer I know would give the Crown Prosecutor the opportunity to say No Fucking Way before laying the charge.

There is an out, "an act that would tend to bring the administration of justice into disrepute" AKA the "Lets not be publicly stupid on purpose" escape to let the Justice system act like people instead of robots.

[Deep13]

5. Maybe the "missle" is one of the missing WMDs.

[MADem]

7. A few years back, a guy beat a hockey referee to death in front of a bunch of kids at an ice rink

He was sentenced to six to ten years. I dunno, given the circumstances of the case, and the fact that the killer weighed more than a hundred pounds more than the skate-wearing victim, I think the guy got off pretty light. A bunch of kids lost their dad in that event.

http://www.courttv.com/trials/junta/012502_ctv.html


I don't understand sentencing guidelines much--six to ten for killing someone, and TWO for something that should maybe get thirty days in the pen, with time off for good behavior (it IS dangerous to throw things on the highway), some community service, AND mandatory attendance at anger management....

[rocktivity]

24. I agree--a fine, community service, probation, counseling

and of course loss of driving privileges would be a much more useful and cost-effective form of punishment rather than locking her up and having to provide for the care of her children. Do the math, your honor!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Az]

8. Our nation has developed a truly perverted sense of justice

Its even marketted to us these days. Turn the tv on and you can find someone being tried in a mock court practically 24/7.

[rpannier]

11. If the cars had been travelling at 60 mph I could see the concern

But in stopped traffic???

IMO, this hardly qualifies as dangerous.

Another notch in the gun for the prosecution and a stab in the back for rational thought and justice.

[Pushed To The Left]

13. I have mixed feelings. 2 years seems really excessive, but I think "road rage" should be punished

when it becomes violent. Throwing ice into another vehicle could have caused a serious accident! However, 2 years is ridiculous. Maybe a really heavy fine and probation. What really makes me angry is when "road rage" is the reason for murders and assaults. I remember seeing a story years ago about a man who was paralyzed from the neck down because some piece of garbage decided to shoot him for cutting him off. The sentence was something ridiculous like 9 years! Paralyzing somebody from the neck down over a traffic dispute warrants a life sentence as far as I'm concerned. I think "road rage" should be treated as a special circumstance rather than an excuse due to the senselessness of it.

[regnaD kciN]

14. Gee, I wonder if the victims were white...?????

:sarcasm:

Seriously, I've had things thrown at me from passing cars. The worst was when I was riding a bike along the side of a ravine, and some yahoos in a car threw something at me -- I guess they were annoyed that they had to slow down by a few MPH to pass me -- and it almost made me lose control and fall over the edge.

What the lady did was downright dangerous (what if the driver of the other car had been hit, lost control, and swerved into the path of an oncoming car?) and merited some form of penalty...and, yes, I'd even argue that it might well involve some jail time. Given that no catastrophe ensued, I'd say having to spend a weekend in prison wouldn't have been inappropriate. But two years? :crazy:

Of course, I should look on the bright side. Given the laws in certain parts of the country, one of the "victims" in the other car could well have pulled a gun and opened fire in retaliation, killing everyone in her car...and have it be ruled "self-defense." :eyes:

[Bluebear]

15. "mother of three young children whose husband is serving third tour in Iraq"

Fabulous. So the 3 kids will have neither parent at home for two years now.

[Bluebear]

16. FR: "She did the crime, she must do the time."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1762713/posts

[AtomicKitten]

17. Not condoning the action,

but driving in SF could drive someone to this.

[Solo_in_MD]

19. She has not been senteced yet if I understand the article correctly

so the judge can show some common sense.\

That said, as a motorcyclist and frequent target of such crap, I understand the need to come down hard on such asshats.

[HuffleClaw]

20. meeep

a JURY did this? wow. ok, a fine i can understand. even community service (at a mcdonalds would at least be ironic) but JAIL time? 'no one was injured' says the story but they jail her for two years? madness. pretty hard to NOT imagine this as a race issue.

[Solo_in_MD]

22. neither the WP, lawyers, or defendants brought up race so

so I doubt that was really an issue.

As a motorcyclists, I am very gald to see this being taken seriously, since it happens to me damn near daily, but a felony is over the top.

[Toots]

21. A cigarette being flicked out a car window?

:shrug:

[Solo_in_MD]

23. Have that hit your jacket or helmet while on a motorcycle or bike and you will see that as serious

Two wheelers are often targeted by cagers...