Posted on 11/04/2009 1:53:52 PM PST by markomalley
One of two women accused of scrapping with an anti-abortion protester in front of Flagstaff City Hall has decided to accept six months of unsupervised probation to make the charges go away.
Denise Redsteer, 48, accepted a "deferred prosecution" Friday in Flagstaff Municipal Court, said City Prosecutor Lisa Stankovich. Deferred prosecution does not admit guilt, and if Redsteer successfully completes the terms of her probation, the charges against her will be dismissed.
Stankovich said that Redsteer has also agreed to pay a $150 prosecution fee and not commit any criminal offenses during the probationary period.
Flagstaff attorney, Mik Jordhal, who is representing both women, is deferring comment on the matter until the resolution of the case of the second defendant, Laura Chapman, 48.
Her case is still pending in court, so Jordhal said any comment of his would be premature.
As for why the city prosecutor chose to offer deferred prosecution, Stankovich said she could not comment on specific cases.
She did say, though, in general, city prosecutors look at several factors when making a decision about a case. Among them are likelihood of proving a case, the victim's input, any criminal history a defendant may have and various references by people in the community.
The case began when the two women approached anti-abortion advocate Johnny Wallace, 69. Wallace had been standing in front of City Hall with a billboard sign espousing his views on abortion.
Witnesses told police that the two women approached Wallace and began to try to take and destroy the sign he was holding. Wallace had to physically restrain the women. Minor injuries were reported.
Police arrested and charged both women with misdemeanor counts of disturbing the peace and criminal damage.
Wallace is himself no stranger to deferred prosecution. He and two other pro-life advocates illegally picketed in front of the home of a Planned Parenthood employee back in January 2008.
All three accepted six-months of probation and had their prosecutions deferred by the city prosecutor. The charges against Wallace were officially dropped in March after he successfully completed the probationary period.
Chapman's case is still pending in municipal court.
HOW DARE YOU TWEAK MY CONSCIENCE FOR KILLING MY OWN CHILD!
$150 will go into the coffers vs. spending thousands to keep her in jail.
There are no hate crimes for assaulting those of a different political ideology. The shadow government protects its own minions. Ask the victim if this is an okay agreement.
Denise Redsteer . . . City Prosecutor Lisa Stankovich.
It sounds as if they are both abortion lovers. If a pro-lifer resorted to violence, which they very rarely do, I have serious doubts that he would be let off like this with a wrist slap.
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