Results tagged “probation”

The two Fashion Institute of Technology students who were busted last December for coke dealing (to undercover cops, no less) were given probation for their felony cocaine possession raps. However, Mackenzie Dippenworth was unhappy with being branded a felon, saying, "It's the ugliest, most disgusting word in the entire language," adding, "I look in here, and I don't see a felon. I don't. I see a girl who made a mistake."

A Brooklyn thug convicted of a violent crime spree last year almost caught a lucky break at Brooklyn Supreme Court yesterday. Victor Hernandez, 17, was sitting in court (wearing his best Spider Man T-shirt) when a lawyer he'd never met, Joseph Santo, called him forward. Santo had mistaken Hernandez, a stocky Latino with curly hair, for his client Antoine Dick, a "clean-cut" black man who was due to get five years probation for purse-snatching. Instead, Hernandez was sentenced as Dick. He tells the Post, "I thought it was strange when I was given five years probation, but I didn't understand. All I knew was that I was happy." Santo—using the best 'that's what she said' defense ever—explains, "I've only met Mr. Dick half a dozen times. I thought he'd grown his hair out. I see as many as 40 clients in a week. I don't remember their faces all the time." Hernadez was ultimately apprehended in the probation office waiting room after his real lawyer arrived to clear up the mistake, helpfully sending his client to jail. He's expected to get at least seven years in prison for slashing two brothers with a machete in a Williamsburg restaurant, among other crimes.

Melissa Weber, the social studies teacher at a Queens public school who was accused of having an affair with a 14-year-old student back in May, has pleaded guilty to statutory rape. Queens DA RIchard Brown said, “As a teacher, the defendant’s actions represent a disturbing betrayal of trust to the student, his parents and the school that employed her... The defendant’s admission of guilt today not only ensures that she is held responsible for her actions but it also spares the young victim in this case the emotional trauma of having to testify at trial.” As it happens, the 27-year-old's plea deal also spares her from a prison sentence, as she's likely to receive 10 years probation—plus she would register as a sex offender (which means her teaching license is revoked), will have to let the Probation Department know about her various Internet usernames, will not be able to use social network websites and can't visit "school grounds or any other places where children under the age of eighteen may be congregating." The "affair" was discovered when the student's mother found text messages between her son and Weber.

Finally, would-be Empire State Building stunt jumper Jeb Corliss is at the end of his nearly three-year-long legal nightmare. In 2006 he attempted to jump from the building with a parachute, but his plan was foiled by security at the last minute. Since then he's been in and out of court, and more recently he was convicted, meaning he could face years behind bars. Well, yesterday was judgement day, and following Alain Robert's slap on the wrist, Corliss was "sentenced to three years of probation and 100 hours of community service," which he is allowed to serve out in his hometown of Malibu, California. No doubt a relief for the stuntman; when he was first facing a judge in 2006 he had said, "I live in a country whose motto is 'Land of the free.' I don't feel very free here." This time around Corliss called the judge: "a wonderful man."

Earlier this week, a judge decided that a man found guilty of stalking actress Uma Thurman did not deserve jail time. Instead, Jack Jordan was sentenced to psychiatric counseling and three years probation in Maryland. However, Jordan was spotted in Lower Manhattan yesterday.

Jack Jordan, the man convicted of stalking actress Uma Thurman, received a sentence of three years probation today. On May 6th a jury found Jordan guilty of stalking and aggravated harassment. Prosecutors had wanted him to spend a year in jail, but the judge declined to order any jail time, opting for psychiatric counseling for the 37-year-old former mental patient.

Last we heard, rapper Foxy Brown, who has been on Rikers for about 8 months now, was trying to get an early release because of her "hearing problems". Deaf or not, something worked, and this week she'll be a free woman once again.

In exchange for guilty pleas on a number of charges including assault of a fan, assault of his chauffer, driving with a suspended license and DUI, rap star Busta Rhymes avoided jail time and was sentenced yesterday to 10 days of community service. Sadly, we’ll be denied the publicity circus that swirled around Boy George and Naomi Campbell during their very public community services; Rhymes will have the privilege of choosing his own method of service at a “private, court-approved location.” (Will there be an after-party?) He’ll also pay fines and court costs amounting to – yes this figure you're about to read is correct – $1,510.