She Didn't Mean It

A woman from the Northeast quadrant of Washington, D.C., who ran over her estranged husband in front of their three children, asked a D.C. Superior Court judge for mercy and got it. Marquetta Jordan, who pled guilty in June to manslaughter, was sentenced to only 6 1/2 years in prison.

I didn't mean for my husband to get hurt," Jordan, 28, told Judge John H. Bayly, Jr. "I don't want to lose my children. Your honor, I just ask for your mercy."

The court's sentencing guidelines recommended a term of 7 1/2 to 15 years in the case. The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas A. DiBiase, asked for a sentence at the high end of those guidelines, arguing that the plea agreement was itself a measure of leniency and that Jordan merited no further consideration.

From The Washington Post, October 15, 2005.