Sherri Bevan Walsh. A single mother, Kelley Williams-Bolar, claimed her children lived with their grandfather rather than with her, to get her children into a better school district. They could have simply transferred her kids back to the bad school. Instead, the prosecutor's office
decided to charge her with two felonies , claiming she had somehow defrauded the school district of $30,000. She was sentenced to
five years in prison, but Judge Cosgrove suspended all but ten days of it.
And the judge had some harsh words for the prosecutor's office, too:
Cosgrove said the county prosecutor’s office refused to consider reducing the charges to misdemeanors, and that all closed-door talks to resolve the case — outside of court — met with failure...
Cosgrove said numerous pretrial hearings were held since last summer.
”The state would not move, would not budge, and offer Ms. Williams-Bolar to plead to a misdemeanor,” the judge said in an interview Wednesday.
”Of course, I can’t put a gun to anybody’s head and force the state to offer a plea bargain.”…
Late Wednesday, Cosgrove issued a news release to area newspapers and television and radio stations, citing the need to respond to ”overwhelming public interest” in her sentencing decision.
”The Summit County Prosecutor’s Office retains complete control over whether to charge a person with a felony or a misdemeanor,” the release stated.
Cosgrove’s bailiff said the office had been bombarded by calls from angry area residents, most of whom were saying that Williams-Bolar’s punishment far exceeded her crimes.
Well, yeah.
The Judge said she would probably expunge the record once Kelley Williams-Bolar completes six months of probation.
Onward and upward,
airforce
