Mom Arrested at Decatur Library Wants Trial
Decatur Metro | September 2, 2011Remember the mom who was arrested for being “boisterous” at the Decatur Library after after being asked to leave because her toddler was being to loud?
Well according to the AJC, Donetta Foster is willing to risk jail time to take the case to court. She’s giving a press conference today at 3p to explain why, apparently.
In related news, I’m pretty sure Ms. Foster also went on Dr. Phil about this story, because a couple weeks back their people were bugging me to use the DM logo for a segment (even though my post was just a summation of a WSB article).
Thanks to the MANY folks who forwarded me this article!
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I’m inclined to believe the cops on this one. They wouldn’t take her to jail unless she cursed at them and refused to leave the library. She’s just looking for drama and vindication (TV news, Dr. Phil). If she had just left and come back later, she would have been fine. Next, the lawsuit against the police, the library and anybody whom she think might pay.
Dr. Phil? Vindication? Not so much! His bread ‘n butter’s in smackin’ folks around, not going, “You poor thing!”
DM- Pretty please tell us about the phone calls!!! Did they ask for your take on things?
(I just caught Ch.5’s bit on her news conference. Her lawyer let her say about a sentence and a half before he took over. She seems nice enough, but they didn’t deny that she yelled, cussed, and refused to leave. )
She was “Serita” in the first article and “Donetta” here. Maybe she has aliases just like some DM posters?
Why are you so hyped up about our UserNames?! You already posted that topic in Free-For-All-Friday and now you’re repeating yourself here. [edited]
I think Karrass is writing about the accused’s name, not blog readers’ user names.
Sorry for the misspelling. I meant Karass.
That’s my other alias!
LOL! Poor Karass can’t even make a joke without someone jumping all up in her [edited]
Hey! No editing yourself!
Sorry. I thought my mama told me it was OK as long as I didn’t do it in a public forum…
Absolutely LOVE you, DM! But why is it OK for one poster to continue to bring up a topic repeatedly and it’s NOT OK for me to ask in a polite way to move on or “give it a rest”? If one poster dominates the discussion, the rest of the community should be able to get a word in, too.
Huh. Must’ve been the polite part that DM edited from your comment.
(Karass- You made me smile! :0)
There’s that smile I was talking about!
You are still missing the point.
Wow. Just, um, wow…
Thanks for asking Cathy. You’re certainly welcome to ask someone to “give it a rest” but I would argue that there are more polite ways to say it. Like “can we refrain from bringing up this topic again here?” or something. I was just trying to stop a potential, and I would say needless, conflict over phrasing instead of what you were actually trying to address.
“Cathy Floyd” is actually Karass’s first attempt at an additional alias, isn’t it? I really, really hope that it is and she done punk’d us all!
Good catch. I was Googling around earlier, to see if anything had popped up yet about her press conference, and saw “Serita” here and there, and “Donetta” thither and yon.
+1
Throw the book at her!!!
File this in “stuff you can’t make up.”
Catalog that story in the “fiction”.
Place this gingerly in “who cares?”.
I am just now figuring out that this incident at the library happened almost a year ago – only in America!
Lest we ever wonder why our judicial system is so clogged up and bogged down. I wonder what the comparison would look like between the money the County will wind up spending on this case and the cost of installing cameras in the library with a 30-day retention on everything recorded.
Shakespeare was right…”The first thing we do, we kill all the lawyers…”
The quote misused as usual…
It never ceases to amuse me when people misunderstand that as well!
And as to the way AP meant it, I can agree if he means the lawyers in the Solicitor’s office (OK, not agree literally, because I don’t really advocate killing them but you get my drift). After the police make the arrest, it’s then up to the prosecutor to decide how to proceed. They can accuse the case or not. If they do accuse it, they then decide how reasonable they want to be in trying to resolve the case short of trial.
Seeing as how this is the same office that regularly elects to accuse DUI cases with breath test results under 0.08 (yes, they can do that, although it almost never happens anywhere else) I’d say, without knowing any of the facts that most of you seem unconcerned about actually gathering, there’s a good chance that the defendant here was forced into a choice of taking the case to trial or pleading guilty to battery and obstruction charges that would stay on her criminal history permanently. And you want to blame “the lawyers”? Nice…
Battery? I am not aware that she’d being accused of battery.
Here’s the AJC story on her recent press conference:
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/library-patron-terrified-at-1155899.html
Seems to me she’s admitting a good bit of the charges against her, or at least coming close. This article, combined with some eye witness accounts in the old thread DM linked to, paint a picture of a woman who may well have been out of control. Of course this is not the kind of thing that should lead to an arrest, but if she did refuse to leave peacefully, what other option was there?
As to what is going on her record, we don’t know what the prosecutors are offering her. One would think it’s a slap on the wrist, but who knows.
Her charge is obstruction of an officer, which is fairly broad.
I thought that it was interesting that, in her press conference, when asked if she used “curse words”, she said she used them “in an articulate manner”.
No doubt. Something along the lines of “Officer, I emphatically deny that I deserved to be kicked out of the ___ library, and I respectfully submit that you should back the ____ off and let me bakc in there before I throw a ______ tantrum out here.”
+1
My bad. It’s two charges; obstruction and disorderly conduct. My guess is that, short of juror nullification, they will convict her of disorderly conduct and acquit her of the obstruction charge. Given that, most solicitors, if they even accused the case in the first place, would offer to dismiss both charges in return for some kind of pre-trial diversion program, anger management classes or something of that sort.
Unfortunately, my history with the DeKalb Solicitor’s office tells me that they are not “most solicitors”. If they did offer a resolution short of trial that was reasonable AND would result in a dismissal of the charges, I will stand corrected. However, if the only option was to plead guilty to EITHER of the charges or go to trial, then I’d say Ms. Donnetta Serita Foster (that’s her full name and hence the source of conflicting reports of it) had no choice but to take her chance with a jury. Especially in this current economy, it’s damn hard to get any decent job with even a misdemeanor on your record.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i0MNOwNNsM
Best explaination I’ve seen regarding that quote.
Thank you! I’ve always known that quote is typically used completely out of context, but could not have said which play it came from or what the scene was about, exactly.
If the glove don’t fit, you gotta acquit.
Better yet…
‘When you took a sip, was it hot? Were you able to sip it in your normal fashion?’ (Jackie Childs!)
Sounds like she was probably pretty rude to the cops. Also sounds like that might have been the result of extreme stress from being a 20 year old single mother of a small child. Hit her with a fine, suspended sentence or whatever, and let’s move on. The prosecutors representing us can surely find other things to do.
p.s. Chadass: It’s outrageous, egregious, preposterous!
You get me one coffee drinker on that jury, you’re going to be a rich man.
I don’t know about this.
I respect the police in general, but I watch Decatur cops speed through thickly settled neighborhoods with no regard for pets or pedestrians and no sirens, and I was horrified at the comment thread earlier this year where Decatur cops were checking the locks on people’s cars and leaving notes warning them not to leave their doors unlocked (which they did without warrants, and therefore illegally). If I had a security guard and cops up in my face because my toddler laughed too loudly at a flash card in a library that my tax dollars help support, I’d be pretty pissed off as well, especially since the law seems to be conveniently tossed aside every now and then in our fair city.
Too bad we don’t have video of the actual event vs. the news later. It might help us all understand whether this was a case of inappropriate library rage by an unreasonable mother or overzealous enforcement of library quiet with the harried mother of a cranky toddler.
Well put, I agree. I’ve also read that the woman was using the computer to apply for jobs, which means that she might not have reliable internet at home. That would make getting kicked out even more frustrating, which wouldn’t justify her outburst but would certainly help explain it.
It’s kind of hard to believe that this wasn’t on cam. There must be plenty of cameras around there for safety and security reasons.
I feel for this woman’s predicament, but how could she have even carried on her job search in a productive manner as irate as she was after the guard initially approached her?
It sounds like she was itching for a confrontation of some sort, and got one. Truly a waste of everyone’s time involved.
I suspect that library + job search + toddler was a sure formula for frustration, no matter who did or didn’t overreact next–the mother, the library staff, the guard, the toddler, and/or the police. I have never figured out how some women work effectively from home with young children underfoot and no child care. Any attempt I would make to concentrate on work, computer, telephone meetings, whatever, would inspire my little ones to need my attention loudly, fully, and inexhorably. Even now, Mom on the computer = good time to bother her. And there’s something about a bratty voice in one’s ear, just as one is trying to diagnose why the computer froze up or read a last-minute demand from one’s boss, that gets on your very. last. nerve.
Must take the patience of Job to deal with those types of situations. I’m guessing you have perfected the art of deep breathing, and screaming on the inside, while smiling on the outside.
Mostly I gave up on the idea of combining work plus childcare. I have seen a few parents do it well. They and/or their children evidently have a different genetic makeup from our family. My family has always had an allergic reaction to multitasking.
If you have concerns about the conduct of Decatur police, I’m sure Deputy Chief Lee would be more than willing to talk to you.
And, the trial of Ms Foster is set for Sept 13, I believe, so you can go and see both sides present their cases and determine if ” the law was conveniently tossed aside”.
Thanks for the updated info on the trial, Steve. I will very likely go watch it.
Steve- Really? No one is going to go to this woman’s trial, because none of us really care that much about it.
We’re just commenting here with our OPINIONS based on our personal observations and life experiences, because that’s what we do here!
The Chief was tuned in to the last conversation re: cars and there is just no need to even bother him with old news again.
Ha! I stand corrected.
Actually, I have no intention of bothering the Chief with news that he already addressed. It’s the fact that the car business happened in the first place, and that the appropriate response came following a public outcry, that justifies my interest here. It is entirely feasible to both like & respect the police, and make sure that they’re following the letter and spirit of the law when they do the jobs I very much appreciate them doing. Just as it is to respect the court system and still take continued interest in its proceedings. It’s not about being a jerk, it’s about being a citizen.
“DeKalb Officials Urged to Drop Charges Against Mother Arrested at Library”
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/local_news/DeKalb-Officials-Urged-to-Drop-Charges-Against-Mother-Arrested-at-Library-20110909-pm-pk
Today’s activity:
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/local_news/Jury-Selection-Begins-in-Crying-Baby-Trial-20110913-am-sd
Does the city of Decatur library have a children’s section w CPU+Internet? If so, ask patrons with giggly children to move there; adults in the ch area expect some noise b/c of the youngster, whereas adults in adult section expect quiet.