BATAVIA – A Batavia woman handed five years in prison for punching a Walmart clerk in the face on Christmas Eve 2011 had her sentenced reduced to one year on appeal.
Jacquetta B. Simmons, who was found guilty of felony assault by a jury, knocked Grace Suozzi to the floor after the clerk had requested sales slips for purchases at the store. Genesee County Judge Robert C. Noonan had sentenced her under “Granny’s Law,” which elevates an assault to a felony if the victim is older than 65 and the attacker, 10 or more years younger. At the time of the attack, the victim was 70 and Simmons, 26.
Simmons, who spent several weeks in jail in 2012 before her sentence was stayed by the appeal, will end up serving less than a year in jail. authorities said. The state Court of appeals ruling late last week cut the sentence in “the interest of justice.”
Jacquetta B. Simmons, who was found guilty of felony assault by a jury, knocked Grace Suozzi to the floor after the clerk had requested sales slips for purchases at the store. Genesee County Judge Robert C. Noonan had sentenced her under “Granny’s Law,” which elevates an assault to a felony if the victim is older than 65 and the attacker, 10 or more years younger. At the time of the attack, the victim was 70 and Simmons, 26.
Simmons, who spent several weeks in jail in 2012 before her sentence was stayed by the appeal, will end up serving less than a year in jail. authorities said. The state Court of appeals ruling late last week cut the sentence in “the interest of justice.”