A woman in Florida is facing up to 60 days in jail after she pleaded guilty to deliberately coughing on and threatening a cancer patient inside a Jacksonville store last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to reports.
Debra Jo Hunter, of Nassau County, was charged with misdemeanour assault over the incident in a Pier 1 store on June 25, 2020, in which she was filmed not wearing a mask and coughing on another customer.
The 52-year-old’s guilty plea comes after more than nine months of court hearings and three struck-down plea details.
Hoping to avoid jail time and a possible $500 fine, Hunter wrote to the judge detailing the abuse she has since received online, saying that while she deserves the backlash, her children do not.
Debra Jo Hunter (pictured left in a video of the incident and right in a mug shot), of Nassau County, was charged with misdemeanour assault over the incident in a Pier 1 store on June 25, 2020, in which she was filmed not wearing a mask and coughing on another customer
According to the victim, Heather Sprague – who also filmed the incident – Hunter was berating employees at the store as she was attempting to return an item she did not have in her possession at the time.
As she watched on, Sprague took out her phone and began to film the woman. In her video, which quickly went viral, Hunter is seen responding with obscene gestures towards the camera.
‘I think I’ll get really close to you and cough on you then,’ Hunter can then be heard saying in the video clip. ‘How’s that?’
Hunter is then seen marching up to Sprague and coughing at her over the phone, before she storms out of the store with her children.
Sprague, who told news outlets she is a brain tumour patient, was wearing a mask at the time, and filed a police report four days after the incident.
Hunter was booked into Duval County jail, before being released the same day after posting bond, according to News4Jax.
According to the victim, Heather Sprague (pictured) – who also filmed the incident – Hunter was berating employees at the store as she was attempting to return an item she did not have in her possession at the time. When she saw Sprague was filming, she coughed on her
She entered a guilty plea on Monday after County Judge James Ruth told her that if she wasn’t ready to enter a plea, he was prepared to pick a jury for the case.
Before Monday, she had agreed to plead guilty on two previous hearings, but the judge rejected them because it would not have involved jail time.
With her sentencing hearing set for Wednesday, she now faces the possibility of up to 60 days in jail and a fine of $500.
Hunter is expected to call on several different witnesses to testify on her behalf, and her attorney also sent a packet of evidence to the judge.
Speaking of the backlash she received over the incident in a letter to the judge, she said: ‘I deserve it. My children do not.’
Hunter said that she was not seeking ‘mercy’, but instead wanted him to understand what led up to the incident and the intensity of the backlash she and her family faced after the video went viral.
The months leading up to the cough, she said that her family were involved in a near fatal boat accident and a house fire that destroyed their home and most of their belongings.
Debra Jo Hunter, seen in the video, entered a guilty plea on Monday after County Judge James Ruth told her that if she wasn’t ready to enter a plea, he was prepared to pick a jury for the case
‘My daughter was alarmed when she noticed a stranger recording the three of us with her phone. Admittedly I was immediately infuriated and demanded this customer to stop filming my kids,’ she wrote, according to First Coast News.
‘In the heat of the moment, I over reacted in an over protective manner which ultimately led to my retaliation on this stranger, the victim. And that highly regrettable, split second, knee jerk reaction has cost my family dearly.’
She also submitted 23 pages of messages she received online, containing a series of vitriolic abuse from people all over the world.
Before the incident, her family home was a gathering place for neighborhood children, she said. But after the video went viral, that way of life stopped.
‘That semi idyllic life came to a screeching halt,’ she wrote. ‘We no longer take family bike rides around the neighborhood. We no long wave at neighbors passing by.’
She compared her new-found reputation to wearing a Scarlett Letter, saying that she went from ‘that mom’ to ‘that woman’.
‘I realize this all may sound like a bad movie script,’ she continued. ‘I assure you, I never thought I would be playing a starring role in a social media feeding frenzy.’
She added, ‘I often wonder what it would be like if every one of us, as the flawed human beings we are, had their worst moments reduced to a short video for all the world to see and judge.’
Hunter also submitted three letters of support from women who defended her character. One said the video did not show the full story, while another said that her friend ”had reached a level of negativity and drama that would be characterized as toxic.’ She add, ‘It was only a matter of time before something happened.’
