Charges dismissed against grandmother
A grandmother who tried to prevent her daughter from whipping her grandchildren was fortunate to avoid jail time as assault charges have been dismissed against the grandmother for an alleged physical altercation with her daughter.
?You can?t tell someone else how to raise their kids. It just doesn?t work that way,? said General Sessions Judge Larry Ross in dismissing assault charges against the grandmother, Minnie Parson, for lack of evidence. ?What happened was juvenile and both of you are adults and should know better.?
Ross was referring to an altercation between Minnie Parson and her daughter, Jennie Parson, at the younger Parson?s West RIverside apartment. The daughter maintained her mother had struck her with a closed fist several times because she was mad she had been whipping her children too much. The mother maintained her daughter is bipolar and whipped her children too much.
?She?s bipolar and she whips the kids all the time,? Minnie Parson testified, noting she had never been in trouble with the law before. ?I was worried she?d hurt them.?
Her daughter maintained her mother started hitting her when they walked into her house after they had been arguing.
?I popped one of my children on their bottom,? a pregnant Jennie Parson said, denying she ever slapped or hit her children, ages 5 and 7, noting it was the whipping of the misbehaving child which prompted her mother to become angry.
She went on to testify she defended herself, hitting her mother back after being struck in the face several times by her elder.
?Right after that she sat down and started crying saying ?I can?t believe you hit your mother,?? Jennie Parson recalled her mother saying.
McMinnville Police Sgt. Mark Mara confirmed he saw red marks on Jennie Parson?s face and none on the elder Parson?s face when he investigated the incident, marks her mother speculated she may have put there herself.
?There weren?t any marks there when I left,? Minnie Parson said.
Given the conflicting testimony, Judge Ross said he could not find enough evidence to warrant a conviction, although he believed more went on than what the senior Parson revealed.
?It?s sad really,? Ross said. ?These children see this happening and they are going to grow up to hit their daughters or mothers.?