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Beagley Convicted Of Child AbuseBy legal standards, it's a minor case, but the story of the so-called “hot sauce mom” has had international ripples because the child who was disciplined was adopted from Russia.Related Content
Jessica Beagley, the Anchorage mother whose videotaped punishment of her 7-year-old son was played on the “Dr. Phil” show, has been found guilty of misdemeanor child abuse under a municipal ordinance. A six-person jury returned the verdict at the Boney Courthouse downtown this afternoon. By legal standards, it's a minor case, but the story of the so-called “hot sauce mom” has had international ripples because the child who was disciplined was adopted from Russia. The prosecutor says the child abuse was grounded in Beagley's desire to be on national television. Beagley's attorney says the law is flawed. Beagley was stoic as she heard the verdict go against her, and she did not speak to reporters before leaving the courthouse. But her attorney, William Ingaldson, says it has been an ordeal. "Jessica has been fighting back tears the entire trial. She gets to come back to my office and show her emotions. But she's trying to get through it, really." But municipal prosecutor Cynthia Franklin said justice was served. "I believe that the jury reached a just verdict in the case. They worked very hard, they applied the law to the facts and in the end they concluded that it is cruel punishment when you pile punishments on top of one another and have your other child videotape it so you can get on a television show." Beagley disciplined one of the 7-year-old twin boys she and her husband adopted from Russia by putting hot sauce in his mouth and making him take a cold shower. The videotape was submitted to the “Dr. Phil Show,” after the producers rejected an earlier tape in which Beagley only yelled at her child. It aired last November, leading to the charge of child abuse. "The act of videotaping yourself punishing your child in order to try to convince a show to let you on is the abuse," Franklin said. Ingaldson said the municipal ordinance is flawed. "To me the way the law is written now it doesn't give guidance to parents what they can and cannot do, what type of punishment is not acceptable, and I think that anytime you have a law where you're going to criminalize behavior, the law should reflect and give you strong guidance as to what is acceptable and not acceptable." Franklin countered: "The defense attorney made his arguments in motion practice before the trial began, and the court made a ruling on that, that the ordinance is constitutional, it's not unconstitutionally vague, and the defense attorney is reiterating his arguments from motion practice when he says that." Sentencing has been set for Monday. This is a misdemeanor offense, and the maximum penalty is a year in jail and a $10,000 fine. Franklin said she had not made up her mind what she will ask the judge for. Ingaldson met with jurors following the delivery of the verdict and said his sense is that they realize Beagley is a loving mother. The case could be appealed to the Court of Appeals. An alternate juror in the case told CBS 11 that she too would have voted to convict. Although she did feel sympathy for Beagley, the alternate believed she should have sought immediate help for her son in anchorage rather than wait for months for Dr. Phil. The alternate says she hopes the family will stay together and that the twins will not be returned to Russia. There was no state prosecution, perhaps because the Office of Children's Services had investigated the family and not sought to remove any of the six children from the home.
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Anonymous said on Sunday, Aug 28 at 12:02 AM
if her skin was a little darker OCS would be all over her!!
73025618jjj said on Saturday, Aug 27 at 1:30 AM
This story upsets you? You let the TSA molest your children at the airport in the illusion of safety! I don't hear your outcry on strangers putting thier hands down YOUR childrens pants, but this story upsets you!
72992317Debby said on Wednesday, Aug 24 at 8:37 AM
Jessica,needs all of the kids removed from her home And her husband is a cop Un believable !! They proable have the 6 kids for money!! It seems to me the state isn't doing their job , those kids should be removed from the home and both parents should have been charged Their is nothing no lower than abusing kids !!!!!!!!!!! She don't need them !!!!
72845257Anonymous said on Tuesday, Aug 23 at 9:54 PM
It's to bad that people think they can get help from a TV show. I think that 'The Dr. Phil Show' is just like reading the enquirer, junck reading. If I'm going to read something it will be something of quality that is worth wild, not garbage. I'm so glad that I stopped watching the Dr. Phil show more than a year ago.
72824912Mary M said on Tuesday, Aug 23 at 9:23 PM
Sounds like she was convicted more of taping it for the show than of the incident itself.
72824282tbones/kenai said on Tuesday, Aug 23 at 7:26 PM
Send her to Russia. Leave her there to fend for herself. Let the child one day have his say to her after the wolves have had theirs. He needs love and care now from everyone!
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