NM woman heads to trial for stealing $2 pumpkin

[Fuji Vice]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- A 23-year-old college student from New Mexico is scheduled to go to trial for allegedly stealing a small pumpkin worth two dollars.

KOAT-TV ( http://bit.ly/wXg7PI ) in Albuquerque, N.M., reports that Lauren Medina will go before a jury and Moriarity Magistrate Judge Steve Jones on Tuesday. She is accused of taking the pumpkin in October 2011 from McCall's Pumpkin Patch in Moriarty.

Her sister, Annette Atencio, says Medina spent $75 on food that day but forgot to pay for the pumpkin she picked up as she was leaving. Atencio says her sister offered to pay but was refused and then handcuffed.

Atencio says she's in disbelief that the theft charge against her sister was not dropped.

She says her sister could have pleaded guilty and be given probation, but refused.

This is an example of what's wrong with the US legal system. Why this needed to go to trial is beyond me. At the worst she should have gotten a slap on the wrist considering it seems to be an honest mistake. What a total waste of tax dollars.

 

[TroyTheAverage]

Wow. I am just shocked that they would go that far over a pumpkin.