Sunday, May 19, 2013

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“Hot Sauce Mom” Trial Now In Hands Of Jury
If convicted, wife of police officer faces up to a year in jail
By Lauren Maxwell
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ANCHORAGE—A jury is now debating the case of a 36 year-old Anchorage who’s been nicknamed the “Hot Sauce Mom.” 

Jessica Beagley is the woman who made a video of herself punishing her Russian-born son, which she then sent to the Dr. Phil Show.
 
Municipal Prosecutor Cynthia Franklin says Beagley made the chilling video showing her pouring hot sauce in the child’s mouth and forcing him into a cold shower because she wanted to be on television.
 
“And that is what this case is about,” Franklin told the jury. “Jessica Beagley wanted to be on TV and she made the video that the show requested in order for her to get on.”
 
Beagley appeared on a segment of the national show, called “ Mommy Confessions.”
Shortly after it aired, she was investigated by the Anchorage Police Department and charged with one count of misdemeanor child abuse.
 
But Beagley’s attorney told the jurors that being on TV really wasn’t the issue they were being asked to decide.
 
“Sending the tape to the Dr. Phil show may have been a bad decision,” said Beagley’s attorney, William Ingaldson. “It might have been bad judgment and you may criticize her for doing that, but it’s not a crime.”
 
Ingaldson says the punishments inflicted on the child didn’t add up to abuse, although harsh and hard to watch. Ingaldson says all six Beagley children knew the consequences for lying or acting out at school and Kristoff had done both the day the tape was made.
 
The jury was asked to take a long, hard look at the tape and decide if it seems like child abuse to them.
 
If convicted, Beagley could face a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.