Letter to the Editor: Sabrina Barnes

Regarding the sentencing of the teen driver in the 2006 death of a pedestrian at Morrison Plantation, I would like to know why Assistant District Attorney Alan Martin made a deal with Kristina Lawson?

Martin said part of the reason the state agreed to the plea arrangement was that the family of the victim, Janet Bush, was in favor of it. “They have never been vindictive,” Martin said in the newspaper article. “They said this young lady going to jail wasn’t going to solve anything.” I have no issues with Ms. Lawson or the Bush family. My prayers and sympathy go out to both families.

But on Jan. 23, 2007, my mom, dad and I, went to the DA’s office and outlined a deal of seven years on the table in the murder case of Misty Witherspoon, who was charged with killing her husband, Concord police officer Quinn Witherspoon. On Jan. 26, Misty accepted that deal, but five days later the DA’s Office removed it from the table, stating that the Mooresville and Concord police departments did not approve of the deal.

We have made it perfectly clear to the DA’s Office, the court, and the public that we did not want Misty to go to jail because we believe Quinn’s death was an accident. Where is Misty’s deal? (She received life in prison without parole.)

Why did the DA’s Office accept a plea for the Lawson case and not the Witherspoon case? Could it be because the Bush family did not have to battle against two police departments or because Misty’s dad was not an attorney or because neither party involved was a police officer?

Does this mean that police officers’ lives are more important than others? Is this fair?

Sabrina Witherspoon Barnes
Mooresville

'Snapped' featuring Misty Witherspoon airs Sunday

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