Today, a judge granted "Accelerated Rehabilitation" probation to Andrea Mears. Mears is the 23yr old woman that violently attacked a responsible UAV pilot at a large CT state park back in May 2014. She then lied to the police claiming he attacked her. He had video of the whole event showing she launched an unprovoked attack on him. And it turns out his video from the Iris was so high up and far away, you couldn't make out any of the people on the beach anyway. It was scenery video, not beach babe video.
For those who are not familiar, Accelerated Rehabilitation ("AR") in Connecticut is also know as Probation Before Judgement ("PBJ") in other states. It is not a conviction with a sentence of probation. Instead you are put on probation before trial and judgement. You are on probation for X years with conditions that must be met. If you behave and do not violate any of those conditions, your record will be wiped clean. No record at all. The case is dropped and no record is left.
Mears was given two years of AR, which is rather common in CT. If she behaves for those two years, her record will be wiped clean. She receives no fine, no jail, no punishment, no restitution, nothing. Literally, her "punishment" is that she is not allowed to commit crimes for the next two years.
Personally I think it is pathetic. She violently assaulted an unarmed non-aggressive minor, made false statements to the police via 911, and made false statements to the police in person when they arrived. She attempted to frame him for a crime he didn't commit by claiming he assaulted her. Had it not been for his video, the police would have arrested him for assaulting her. And for this, her punishment is being told not to do that again for two years.
Aerial video:
Comments
idk there are some really stupid people out there and we must remember that . \
If it was me being attacked like that i'd hope i would do the same and record the event as not unlike most places in the world my story would not be enough and that is truly unjust however my wishes for the attacker would not be so heavy as prison but ofcorce not as light as a 0 sentence.
Here in austraila we have a suspended sentence much like the USA's "Accelerated Rehabilitation" program with some small "Key" differences
1. If any crime is committed within the suspended sentence its straight to prison do not pass go do not collect $200
2. A record is always kept!
I mean really think about it, sure she lost her shit over the flying-drone-camera-thingy but it not like we are all perfect and some of us have had times in our lifes where we where unable to keep our cool and lost it over something that really should not have been worried about.
I think its wrong there's a chance of no record that should not even be an option regardless of the crime committed there should always be that strike.
Only if after all of this she wasn't remorseful of her actions and realized how in the wrong she was and apologetic toward to kid she held down and made untruthful accusations to would i think it was ok for her to see prison!
just my 2c
Thanks for this article. It is valuable reference for future cases.
I do think that future cases will be treated in the same fashion by the courts though. I think most people like this woman, have intentions to harass (or assault) as strongly as possible while allowing the ambiguity of one persons opinion over another's. It's been used in history over and over "I didn't do it" or "Prove it".
I'm also happy to acknowledge an amount of gender imbalance to this problem too. Men & Women have allowed themselves to portray Men as the thug, brute and worse. And likewise, Men & Women have allowed themselves to portray Women as divine vessels of creation.
It is no wonder a Woman will behave in such a manner and feel shocked that she's even in a situation with the law.
Be proactive towards gender equality, I say.
So this is a country of equal rights eh...
I wouldn't want to wake up next to that in the morning, that is for sure. And she thought the kid was taking video of her on the beach.....lol
Yes she should spend time in jail....just like the kid would have without the recording.
Furthering Gary's point. You'll notice in the video that the entire time she is attacking him, she is looking out in the distance down the road. Hmm. Why would you be looking somewhere other than at the person you are attacking??? Perhaps keeping an eye out for the police or any witnesses? Clearly she knew exactly what she was doing, planned it, and consciously executed that plan.
I don't agree Brian,
She went well out of her way to come over and approach the drone flyer, tried to prevent him from touching his stuff, called the police and then assaulted him and then lied about what happened to the police saying he was entirely the aggressor.
Where he in fact clearly demonstrated exactly the opposite was true.
He would have spent considerable time in jail based on her completely fabricated testimony which she was clearly prepared to give.
Clearly this woman has no moral compunction at all and is only interested in her interpretation of the way the World ought to operate so that it best serves her.
And she has no regard at all for how her actions might be detrimental to anyone else.
If this poor kid hadn't had recorded it with his cell phone, he would be in jail at this very moment because of her lies.
And basically losing her temper is not a sufficient reason to commit a felonious assault on anybody - ever.
At the very least she should have been required to undergo extensive psychological treatment and to get a release from the Psychiatrist saying she was "stable".
I don't know what kind of civil restitution that the victim could get from this, but if it was worthwhile it should be pursued in no small part to compensate for this clear miscarriage of justice.
This is the very sort of injustice that makes people truly have contempt for our legal system, here and globally.
I don't know.. she basically lost her temper. If I were the pilot I wouldn't want to see her life ruined for what was essentially a pushing match. If she loses it again, she'll face consequences for both instances. Seems just.
The fact is that verdict actually makes a mockery of the justice system.
There is almost never such clear evidence of an unprovoked physical assault and there is clear evidence that this woman is dangerous and willing to lie to make any point she wishes.
This was a great legal disservice to the people of the United States, not just the kid who was assaulted with no justification whatsoever.
it sucks that she was given such a light punishment, however with the way business's, and banks do online background checks on people today, her life is ruined. search her name and its the first thing that comes up.
@John, that is not the correct statute. First degree false reporting does not apply to a simple assault. That is for things like screaming fire in a crowded movie theater.
The applicable one is 53a-180C, second degree false reporting of an incident. This is a class A misdemeanor which up to 1yr jail and / or up to $2000. Neither are required, there is no minimum. See http://www.jud.ct.gov/ji/criminal/part8/8.5-5.htm.
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