Woman avoids jail time for false abuse warrant

A woman who had her boyfriend arrested for abuse that never happened was warned she will go to jail the next time she cries wolf.

‘You come back up here again and try to dismiss a case like this and I’ll put you in jail,’ warned General Sessions Judge Larry Ross to Brenda Novak, ordering her to pay court costs for her false charge last week against Floyd Watts. ‘I don’t care if you take a bag full of drugs. You do something like this again and you’re going to jail.’

Charges against Mr. Watts were dismissed last week after prosecutors revealed Novak would not push the assault case, suggesting she may have inflicted injuries on her herself to get her boyfriend in trouble. The dismissal resulted in Judge Ross ordered Novak before the bench Tuesday to face a potential 10 days in jail for contempt of court.

During her appearance yesterday, Novak maintained she was on a number of prescription drugs and was not sure what actually happened the day she charged Watts with assault.

‘I can’t remember if he hit me or not,’ an apparently confused Novak told the court, waffling on whether she had been struck by Watts.

Her inability, or reluctance, to say whether she was struck prompted the judge’s warning.

‘I don’t know where you’re from, but we don’t put up with this stuff here,’ Ross said. ‘If you take out a warrant, you better see it through. You took this man’s liberty and put him in jail, and our liberty is about all we have left nowadays.’

Ross concluded by telling Novak she had better pay the court costs as instructed or face jail time.