HILLSBORO, Mo. (CN) - A mother who whacked her son's heroin dealer with a baseball bat faces up to a year in jail after being convicted of misdemeanor assault.
A Jefferson County jury on Tuesday convicted Sherry Gavan, 54, of third-degree assault, a class A misdemeanor. She faces up to a $1,000 fine and a year in jail at her June 4 sentencing.
According to Missouri press reports, Joshua Loyd admitted he helped supply Sherry Gavan's now 19-year-old son, Clayton, with heroin.
Sherry Gavan did not dispute that she hit Loyd with a baseball bat outside his home on Dec. 20, 2011.
Gavan's attorney claimed that she was trying to protect her son, but prosecutors said she was not allowed to take the law into her own hands.
Gavan whacked the dealer after she tailed her son to Loyd's house. She claimed that Loyd pulled an unidentified object the size of half a brick out of his car, so she grabbed the bat and bopped him twice on the arm.
Loyd testified that he might have been on heroin that day and was not concerned for his safety when Sherry Gavan - at 4 foot 11 inches and 115 pounds - approached. He was not seriously hurt and did not seek medical attention.
Loyd could not identify Sherry Gavan during trial.
News of the verdict drew of a wide variety of comments on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website. Some readers wanted to give Gavan a "Mother of the Year" award. Others said she was lucky to be charged with a misdemeanor instead of felony assault.
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