posted August 9, 2005
A pregnant woman who was arrested for prostitution hours after she was released from the workhouse has been given maximum sentences by General Sessions Court Judge Bob Moon.
Michelle Hayes of 3942 W. Road, Signal Mountain, was back in General Sessions Court Tuesday on the prostitution case.
The Hamilton County District Attorney General asked the court to revoke previous suspended sentences of 11 months and 29 days for evading arrest and 30 days for criminal trespassing.
Last month, Judge Moon had released Hayes, who was nine months pregnant to have her child. Judge Moon had previously revoked Hayes’ sentence for failing a drug screen while being placed on county probation. Within hours after her release, Hayes was arrested for prostitution in a police sting on Main Street.
Attorney Susan Ladico, who was appointed to represent Ms. Hayes, requested that Ms. Hayes be given a suspended sentence and allowed to participate in a family program at CADAS. Ms. Hayes had forwarded a letter to the court also requesting a suspended sentence and an opportunity to attend CADAS.
Judge Moon denied the request, noting that the letter that he received from Ms. Hayes only mentioned her concern for her child at the end in a short postscript.
Attorney Ladico stated that Ms. Hayes had four minor children, two living with their father and two in foster homes including the one-month-old child.
Judge Moon said, “Ms. Ladico, you have done a sterling job for your client; you have explored every avenue to assist her and to teach her how to be a good mother. However, she has failed miserably as a parent, is perhaps irrevocably drug addicted and as demonstrated in her letter, her children are nothing more than a “postscript” in her life.”
Judge Moon denied all defense motions for a suspended sentence, revoked all previous suspended sentences and imposed the maximum sentence of 11 month and 29 days on the prostitution charge. He ordered the sentences to be served consecutively, which is the maximum time allowed by law.
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