Tuesday, January 8, 2008

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

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sabrina,
When Kristina Lawson got in that car that day she did not intentionally get in it with the intention of killing someone. She had an accident that was her fault. She took a life and now she is paying for her ACCIDENT.
On the other hand, Misty probably did not get up on the morning that she murdered Quinn with the intentions of killing him. Misty's circumstances changed when she found out she was going to have to tell Quinn that their power was going to be cut off that next day. She SNAPPED and her intentions changed. She picked up that gun with the INTENT of killing someone. You mention your Mom and Dad and yourself, but what about your surviving brother and his opinions. Evidentially he has chosen to think about Quinn's children because he is not writing letters to the editor. You want your family left alone and for our community to think about what this is doing to Quinn's children but you continue to show your ignorance and speak out publically. There is a difference between Accidental and Intentional and that's life in prison without parole. JUSTICE WAS SERVED.

Anonymous said...

"You want your family left alone and for our community to think about what this is doing to Quinn's children but you continue to show your ignorance and speak out publically."

Sabrina,

Think about the quote above. You never quit, do you? You never will, will you?? You just continue on and wonder why people treat your family the way they do. It's because you won't shut up. You don't WANT people to forget. Do you think that if you continue writing letters it will get Misty a different sentence? She was convicted by a jury of HER PEERS, and got the sentence that conviction called for. You writing letters and continually embarassing your family is not going to commute her sentence. It's time for you to quit and think about what YOU'RE doing to Quinn's children.

Anonymous said...

Sabrina,
Would you please stop.I think you just love the spot light on your self.You comments are stupid and make no since.Why do you continue to go on and on about Misty.She is gone to prison and will never get out.You and your crazy family are wasting your time on her.Why do you and your family contiue to support that woman?Come on Sabrina what is the real reason?Don't hide anything !!!I think there is more to it.I second the first comment posted justice was served.

Anonymous said...

You are a very lucky woman Sabrina. A lot of people think you should have been arrested too for accessory after the fact and destroying evidence to hinder an investigation. Remember the sofa? Remembering it being destroyed by the family before police could get it?

What is it that you want? Is it just fun for you to have your name in lights and in the paper? Quinn never would have done the things to you that you have done to him. Was he not a loving and caring uncle to your children? Can you not be that for Katherine, Seth, and Sydney? I've talked to them. I know the crazy things you have told them. I've seen them cry when they have to go back to the Witherspoons. Instead of making a loving home for them to thrive in, your family has made a dark shrine to Misty. You're keeping the kids in that dark place when they need to be out in the world making friends and getting over the lose of their parents. I think you need to get help before you can ever help them. It's just so sad to see the misery on their faces everyday.

For you to speak in the Lawson case is rediculous. Just what do you know about it? Have you read the transcrips of that case? Were you in court to hear it? Do you even know the girl? Well I have read the transcrips of Misty's trial. I was in court and listened to the evidence. Without a doubt, Misty of guilty of first degree murder. She planned to kill Quinn. As soon as she got off that phone with Duke power and knew Quinn would find out that she, yet again, had lied, cheated, and stollen, her limited little mind began to form a plan and that plan never included doing harm to herself. In order to keep the charade of her life going it had to be Quinn who died that day so she with full intention took his weapon and shot him in the back of his head while he was sleeping. She put herself, and her love for money and spending before her children, her husband, her church, and her home. She had every intent of killing Quinn for his insurance money. The selfish cruelity of her actions is why she is in prison. Her premeditated intent is why she's there for life.

Stop judging other people Sabrina. That's not your job. Why don't you put as much time and energy into helping Quinn's kids as you do their mother. They have a future. You can make it a better one if you want to. No one wants to hurt you or the Witherspoon family. They just want you to stop with all the Misty Misty Misty stuff and help those kids. How do you think they feel about the crazy things you say? And your own family? Do you think they like to hear you telling people you talk to Quinn? You know if Quinn could come back to talk to anyone, It would be his precious babies. You talk about God and his intent for Misty. What makes you think that being in prison for life is not what God wanted. Maybe he saw the harm she did to Quinn and wanted to protect his children. Maybe that's why the jury saw the truth and put her there. Statistically speaking, these children have a rough road ahead. Stop making it worse.

Anonymous said...

Sabrina is it fair for police officers, sheriff's deputy's and highway patrolman to put their lives at risk everyday for such a low salary? They protect the people, you, me and anyone else that needs them and for barely a living. You're darn right the standards should be different for them. My nephew is in law enforcement and I see his wife sitting home every night with her two babies waiting to see if he makes it home each and every night. I don't think we can do enough for our law enforcement officers. If someone else had shot Quinn would you not have wanted justice? I think Misty thought she could get by with killing him, just like she had gotten by with everything before. It's sad, so very sad for you, your parents, Quinn's children, his fellow officers, and his friends to be without him now but Misty is where she needs to be. She did it. She's guilty and it was no accident. I pray that someday you figure that out and start standing up for your brother, not the one who put a gun to his head and shot him while he was sleeping. Not thinking of him, his family, the twins sleeping in the other room or poor little Katherine who was expecting her Daddy to pick her up that day from school. How on earth can you defend Misty?