Decatur Officer Testifies at the “Mom Arrested at Library” Trial
Decatur Metro | September 14, 2011 | 4:32 pmWhile I enjoyed our initial conversation about this incident, I find myself with very little interest in it now, honestly. But I guess it can’t be escaped. For all of you who saw this on Dr. Phil a few days back and are breathlessly waiting to know what happens, here’s the latest from the AJC…
A Decatur police officer testified Wednesday that he gave a DeKalb County mother escorted from the city’s library ample opportunity to calm down.
Sgt. Renneth Beaupierre, the superior officer at the time, told the seven-member jury that he was polite and professional as he allowed Donnetta Foster, 20, to vent about what happened at the library last October.
…“It probably went further than I should’ve allowed it,” he said. “But I wanted to give her a chance to express herself.”
Beaupierre also confirmed that he told Foster that what she had to say about the incident “wasn’t important.”
Thanks to Steve for the AJC link and Deanne for the Dr. Phil one!
Indeed, this story is like a black hole from which not even light can escape!
Interesting facts here which make her decision to try this case seem borderline insane. She was asked to leave twice and kept returning to the scene! What was she thinking? And it certainly seems that the officer was beyond patient with her.
I have observed that officer on more than one occasion. He is one of the most patient, level-headed people I know. I’m sure he gave her every benefit of the doubt.
Channel 5 reports that the judge has told the jury they will be a little late tonight. Don’t know whether that’s for her instructions of if she wants them to at least begin deliberations.
Anyone catch her on Dr Phi the other day? What she said was certainly not persuasive and that appearance was not a good dry run for her trial.
I cannot believe her attorney would allow her to take this to trial or to testify.
The piece was so tightly edited! (No mention of going to court, and I didn’t notice her lawyer in the audience.) … One thing I do wish the show had elaborated on was “this library is different than all other libraries.” What did Ms. Foster mean? And does she still think it? I hope Dr. Phil has her back on as a guest now that the trial’s over. ( I think Judge Gordon’s sentence was exactly right, but Ms. Foster may need things more plainly put to her before she really gets it.)
(Whew boy, DM commenters have nuthin’ on Dr Phil’s “hatin’ on kids in restaurants” commenters! Almost 800 posts on it and only about 5 library ones (agreeing that libraries mean “Quiet!” )
“Almost 800 posts on it and only about 5 library ones (agreeing that libraries mean “Quiet!” )”
That makes sense to me. I have sympathy for those who have to use the library to access job information, etc, online. The problem with this woman was her belligerent attitude.
Restaurants? No sympathy from me. People who choose to eat out without regard for those seeking a peaceful dinner are behaving selfishly and, though not as egregious, rightfully deserve at least to some degree the same public scorn heaped on smokers.
“Anyone catch her on Dr Phi the other day?”
My guess that is the reason he took the case this far.
guilty…
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/jury-finds-mom-guilty-1180899.html
And the sentence…
Donnetta Foster was sentenced to 12 months: Two days in jail with credit for two days already served, and the remainder of the sentence on probation.
Judge Janis C. Gordon told Foster she also would have to perform 40 hours of community service and attend three parenting classes, three child impact classes, three “Alternative Path for Women” classes, and a day-long intensive anger management class.
Seems pretty reasonable. For something like this to go all of the way to a full-blown trial is silly, but a sentence that actually may end up being useful to the defendant is nice.
Set Schadenfreude Phasers to MAXIMUM.
I have sympathy for the woman as I’ve seen some pretty ridiculous behavior coming from the staff at that library. Call me crazy.
poplar, ever worked in that library and had to deal with all the crap that people pull? I rest my case.
I’ve worked with the public and dealt with “all the crap people pull,” but not in that library.
Too blessed to be stressed and too anointed to be disappointed!
They should have locked her up and taken away her kid. Slapping people on the wrist that act out like this only serves to encourage bad, selfish behavior. She’ll be in the news again…just wait.
+1
I disagree. Locking her up with worse offenders, many of them probably violent, wouldn’t accomplish anything good. A 20-year old mother who has obvious issues with impulse control and anger management — but who has not done anything criminal — needs intervention, not incarceration. Probation, community service, and the classes on parenting, child impact and anger management make a lot more sense. It might not transform her overnight, but if some of it sticks, then she (and her kid, and the community) will be a lot better off than if she spent a year in jail.
I agree. If intervention to break the cycle of poor behavior modelling isn’t tried, then we may just be dealing with a similar situation with her toddler in 15 years. And the cost to the taxpayer of incarceration is quite high.
I agree too, STG, but I wouldn’t say she hasn’t done anything criminal. That was the point of the trial, wasn’t it? She hasn’t done anything especially violent, which I imagine was your point.
At the same time, I’m so annoyed over the whole matter, like Brenda, that I wish the defendant or her attorney would be forced to help pay the cost for the trial. They never seemed to even deny the allegations, they just thought they were justified because she needed to be heard.
The costs of a trial may annoy some, but the right to a trial is one of the things that makes this country great, and I do not want to live in a society where the right to confront your accuser is frowned upon.
Wow, we have some hard-core crime and punishment types around here! I think the sentence was adequate for a non-violent crime, and you can’t enhance punishment because a defendant avails herself of her constitutional right to a trial by jury, even when it’s this big a waste of everyone’s time. To take away her child for this infraction would be wildly disproportionate punishment.
+1
Ludicrous to even mention taking away her kid.
Especially since our foster care system cannot be trusted to keep children safe…..there’s some wonderful, beautiful foster parents around, including some in Decatur, but the system as a whole has let some children be abused, physically, emotionally, and sexually, and even killed.
Because punishing the child by throwing her into the foster care system is definitely fair. And a society in which people go to jail for extended periods of time for behaving rudely is definitely a just one. ::sigh::
I wouldn’t say “breathlessly waiting” to see what happens is quite accurate… For me, it was more like “could hardly breathe I was so concerned” about how our library staff and police officers would fare if this turned into the next sensationalized national news story. This outcome is even better than I dared hope! Ms. Foster (once she finishes patting herself on the back for standing up for her library rights) could truly benefit from the classes she’ll be taking. I’m so impressed with how our police officers, the library staff, the solicitor’s office folks, the judge, and the jury handled this case. Gotta also say I’m amazed at how well Dr. Phil and others who took an interest in Ms. Foster’s case did in refraining from adding to the hype! And I’d really like to thank the folks in the media who chose not to jump onto Ms. Foster’s bandwagon.
Can we have a city of Decatur run library now?
“Can we have a city of Decatur run library now?”
Would they ban babies? I kind of doubt it…
Knock yourself out. Form a committee or something if you really care.
I was there through the whole trial. So much more to the story than has been reported in the media. And it appears to me that the publicity and the use of DeKalb resources for a 2 day trial on a simple misdemeanor seems have just been a set up for the separate civil suit she is filing against DeKalb. Her lawyer stated on the second day that she has approached DeKalb about suing them. I’m even wondering if it wasn’t a set up from the beginning-she had a reporter on the phone as she was being escorted from the library. Who does that? I hope being convicted will discourage her lawyers from the civil suit-this woman has cost us DeKalb taxpayers enough already.
The charge was about what happened outside the library and was pretty straightforward-she was ordered to leave by an officer of the law and refused to do so. Guilty.
As to what happened inside, the media has only reported her statement that her child was “cooing”. The 4 library staffers who testified said the child was screaming and crying for over 20 minutes and that the mother did nothing to calm him. They asked her to please take him outside and calm him down and that then she could return to the computer. She refused and became belligerent. Following library policy, they called the police to escort her from the premises. Now isn’t that a different story from the one the media picked up from Ms. Foster’s PR team??
I would like the Decatur police department to know what an asset they have in Sgt. Beaupierre, although they probably already do know that. His testimony was brilliant and on the tape of the incident, he was amazingly calm and polite to Ms. Foster and her mother, even while they were both screaming and cursing at him for almost an hour.
I assume the library did not have any kind of videotape of the baby crying and her refusal to do anything. Or was it not brought in because it was irrelevant to the charge? One of her statements from the Dr. Phil transcript struck me as absurd: When he pointed out that a baby crying in a library could be a problem for other patrons, she said this library was different from other libraries. Huh?
There was no tape and you are right, it would have been irrelevant. This week’s trial for the criminal charge was based solely on what happened outside.
Don’t know but I’m guessing all her emphasis on what happened inside is to set the stage for her civil lawsuit against the county. “This library is different” never came up during the trial. She is reaching hard for justification to sue!
Yeah, she said originally said that she wanted the officer to write a report on what happened inside and he refused. She was trying to manufacture some basis for a suit there. Things just haven’t worked out as she planned.
I wonder who was paying the lawyer? If she was unemployed I can’t see that she was. If he was a public defender, remember that civil cases are not entitled to such.
For some layers, publicity is the fee.
Lawyers. Crap.
I’d really be interested in knowing what grounds she thinks she would have for a lawsuit and what she expected to recover. I guess some people are more special than others.
I already commented above in this tread regarding Sgt Beaupierre.
Now that’s she’s been convicted of the criminal charge against her she has zero chance of prevailing in a civil suit. Zero. I can’t even imagine what her cause of action would be. Sanctions for filing frivolous civil suits are far too rare these days, but she’d be risking sanctions if she filed suit over this.
Best believe the threat of sanctions will not be enough to dissuade this woman’s attorney from filing a suit. He likely thinks that if they get the “right” civil jury, they’ll believe she was railroaded by the criminal jury, and rule in her favor. Of course, he’ll be hoping that the County/City will prefer to dole out a settlement rather than incur the costs of preparing for/going to trial.
I’d sure rather have the City or County spend the money to prepare for trial than open the door to this type of suit. Just imagine what would happen if they paid out!
Thanks for that perspective.
The only person she should be filing suit against is her attorney for encouraging her to continue making a fool of herself not just locally, but NATIONALLY.
Gotta take a crying kid out of the library, just the way it goes. I think anyone would initially be sympathetic with her personal predicament. But most parents I have seen in the library at least make an attempt to “shhh, library voice” or something of that nature with their kids. I doubt they would appreciate a parent making a minimal effort and disturbing everyone in earshot, while raising more hell than the kid.
The whole situation is just a bunch of nonsense. She won’t get a penny.
And…
Though I get her arrest was about what happened outside, I’m still a little surprised that the incident in the library wasn’t on tape. (Maybe it would have debunked her story before it made it this far.) It’s a place where lots of children & teenagers congregate, and there are lots of things that would make it a desirable place for thieves. It would seem like they would have cameras all over the place. Or not…
There is ALWAYS so much more to the story that has not been reported…
Not only more but it has been a lesson to me in how the media gets it wrong! Especially a certain television station, the one Ms. Foster called from the library, that has reported almost exclusively from her perspective.
In possible defense of the media, the other people involved may have been instructed not to talk about the case. Sometimes that’s why there are these one-sided conflict stories.
I have not been following this particular story, but in general, the news media are guided first and foremost by the corporate overlords’ directives to attract readers/viewers which sells advertising which makes money. Thoroughness and, especially, nuance, take a back seat. Understood that sometimes they are not able to ferret out all sides of a story, especially trying to make a daily deadline. But IMO a lot of the slant we perceive comes as much from sensationalizing and dumbing-down the information, as it does from any actual bias.
I think you are exactly right! The other side couldn’t tell their story because of the possible lawsuit. Thanks for that-I was getting angry about the slanted coverage.
Call me silly, but I’m still optimistic that one of the local news stations will expand on the story with their weekly news roundup this weekend. If they’d list the entire sentence, it might capture folks’ attention and get them to really think about how to act in public places. And it’d sure be nice if the media would use it as an opportunity to highlight policing done right.
(Marcus Garner, of the AJC, did a stellar job of recapping the trial.)
Well, of course– because if they reported it according to the testimony at trial, they really wouldn’t have much of a story to rile folks up, now would they? I’ve really lost a lot of respect for the local media over the years, starting with the railroad job it did on poor ol’ Richard Jewell.
Even “legitimate” media outfits now believe they have to stoop to the tabloid level just to compete for viewers/listeners/readers, and their ever-accelerating drive for “market share” is reducing them all to yellow journalism. It’s a shame.
Do people like this get paid anything for going on Dr. Phil? Are their expenses covered (assuming they have to travel to wherever the show is taped)?
Isn’t it likely that her lawyer has been working on a contingency basis? It doesn’t seem like he’s actually done much yet except try to lay some PR groundwork for a civil suit. If she had somehow avoided conviction, then he might think it worthwhile to get cracking, but I’ll bet he’s not taking her calls today.
No way this unemployed mother, who stated she was using the library computer because she couldn’t afford her own, could afford that “dream team” of attorneys, who were obviously not public defenders. They could have done it just for the publicity like DEM said but I think smalltowngal is right-they were going for the chance to get a contingency fee from suing DeKalb.
DEM, I hope you are right that there is no chance the civil suit will proceed. Enough is enough.
No, I saod that there is no chance the suit would prevail. There is every chance it will proceed, since it costs the plaintiff next to nothing to file it and it costs the defendant a whole bunch to defend it.
The defendant can seek a summary judgement for dismissal, right? (Prime-time TV is so educational!)
Yes, but
(a) dismissal is rarely granted, I won’t get into the boring details as to why, and
(b) summary judgment is also hard to get (though not as hard as dismissal) and you have to get almost to the eve of trial before it is appropriate.
Even if you do get a dismissal or SJ, the defendant usually has to spend some serious bucks to get it.
When served, can’t the City or County reply back with a request for costs should the jury find in their favor?
Lucky she’s not in Texas…death penalty for sure!
Not much a of a threat. It is Texas and all…
I saw a bunch of officers on the video footage on the news. Why did only one officer testify?
He was the senior officer on the scene and the one who actually made the arrest. I suppose others could have been called if either side wanted to.
Two officers testified, they just picked up the senior one on the news.
anomymous for good reason-
Thank you for all of the trial information! Would you mind answering a few more questions?
1) How did Ms. Foster react while listening to other folks’ testimony?
2) How did Ms. Foster react upon learning the verdict and her sentence?
3) What was your impression of her lead attorney? How did the legal team react afterward? ( I guess I’m asking your take on whether they seem “sue” hungry!)
4) What, if anything, was said about her mom not being arrested?