Tina Hunt, a 49-year-old grandmother received a felony conviction for aggravated battery of a peace officer when she kicked a sheriff’s deputy in the shin during a struggle in a lockup. At her trial, the deputy testified that the kick was not painful and left no mark. Nevertheless, because Hunt has two prior convictions for violent crimes decades ago, she faces a mandatory minimum of six years in prison.
From Chicago Tribune
A Temple University assistant professor in criminal justice who spent nearly a decade working at the Leighton Criminal Court Building as a law clerk called the case an example of inequities in criminal sentencing law.
“She may very well should have been convicted, but what you see in the sentencing is there’s no way to reform,” Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve said in a telephone interview. “It’s a punitive system. The sins of the past will follow you forever.”
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