Criminal charges stem from divorce
A nasty divorce has the former wife going to jail and the former husband likely soon to follow after a pair of parting shots landed both in court.
?I could have told you exactly what was going to happen when they were up here on their divorce just before all this happened and both of them acted like heathens,? said General Sessions Judge Larry Ross of the vandalism charges against Donna Lee and pending harassment charges against Richard Lee. ?I?m sending you to jail Ms. Lee and, if the evidence justifies it, you?re going too Mr. Lee when you?re up here on your case next month.?
Ms. Lee was ordered to serve 48 hours of a six-month sentence and to pay restitution for a broken door after she and members of her family went to the couple?s home (where she had stayed the evening before) to collect her belongings just after the divorce was finalized.
Ms. Lee said when she arrived she found a lock had been placed on her bedroom door where she could not get her belongings. It was at that point she had one of the people with her kick the door open so she could get inside.
It was also during the visit that Ms. Lee admitted allowing her children to tear up pictures found inside the home because she was angry someone had destroyed one of her daughter?s trophies. One of Mr. Lee?s children arrived to find the torn-up pictures littering the front yard of the residence.
?I can already see I?m going to be having to deal with your children up here in the future since you?ve taught them by your example that it?s OK to destroy other people?s property when things don?t go their way,? Ross said. ?You can bank on that happening because that?s what they?ve been taught to do.?
While sending Ms. Lee to jail for 48 hours, Judge Ross suggested jail time for both may serve as a warning to the former couple that continuing their feud will not be tolerated. Mr. Lee comes before the court Jan. 9 on his misdemeanor harassment by phone charge. Both have been warned to stay away from one another or face contempt of court charges.