I wonder if this lady had a lawyer or self represented. The court often, even if not correct, considers only the arguments presented. The argument that she is feeding children and not selfish doesn’t address the legal aspects of the case. So prosecution wins. I think a lawyer might have avoided the arrest and pushed the case down the road. Most cases don’t get resolved on first hearing. Without an attorney, though, she gets railroaded.
A trial judge’s job is to throw cold water on civil disobedience. The law is the law. He’d have given her a break if she apologized, admitted she should have followed the law.
She was unrepentant. She thumbed her nose at the law, and gave her reason.
His job is to take one side of this, hers is to take the other. Now it gets kincked upstairs to the next layer of authority.