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Backstory:

Carson head-bop case ends with slap on wrist

By Gene Maddaus Staff Writer

Article Launched: 04/17/2008 11:30:29 PM PDT

Cancel the media circus. Send home the forensic experts. Tell Dr. Phil and Dominick Dunne to make other plans.

There will be no Trial of the Century in the Carson bop-on-the-head case.

No frame-by-frame analysis of the YouTube video that shows Vera Dewitt striking Jan Schaefer with a sheaf of papers at a Carson City Council meeting.

No prolonged jury deliberations over whether Schaefer was faking her injury when she shrieked and rolled on the floor.

No legal parsing over whether an act of immaturity was also an act of criminality.

None of that. Instead, the case that began a year ago with a swat on the head ended Thursday with a slap on the wrist, when Dewitt agreed to complete anger management classes and some community service and pay $1,500 in restitution to Schaefer.

In exchange, prosecutors will drop a count of misdemeanor battery and the case will be closed.

"I'm very pleased to have this behind me," Dewitt said Thursday. "But I still am puzzled why it reached the level of prosecution. It's a shame the taxpayers had to pay all this money."

Dewitt was arrested the night of Feb. 6, 2007, after striking Schaefer during a tumultuous council meeting. Dewitt, a former councilwoman, was leaving the podium after speaking about her efforts to recall Mayor Jim Dear.

Schaefer, a Dear ally, was sitting in the front row. As Dewitt passed by, Schaefer appeared to mutter her disapproval, prompting Dewitt

to strike her on the head with her stack of papers, and setting off a chain reaction of juvenile behavior.

Stunned, Schaefer shrieked and threw herself on the floor, in a moment much criticized for its apparent fakery. Dear - also caught off- guard - shouted that Schaefer had been hit in the eye and needed a doctor's attention and ordered the bailiff to arrest Dewitt.

The whole thing was captured by the council's video camera and replayed numerous times on local and national television. The clip was especially popular on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," on MSNBC, which gave it a special "Keithie" award for "Best of the Stuff We Found on the Internets."

Producers for Dr. Phil invited both women on the show to hash out their differences, but the political divisions in Carson proved to be too intractable to be resolved by a daytime talk show, and both women declined.

Instead, they went to court. Schaefer obtained a 100-yard restraining order against Dewitt (later reduced to three yards, and still in force). Dewitt was also charged with misdemeanor battery, which could have brought a penalty of up to six months in jail.

Dewitt runs a bail bonds company, and worried that a conviction could jeopardize her license.

"This was very serious," she said. "I'm a leader in my industry, and it's unbelievable to have it go to this point."

Dewitt's attorney, Robert Ernenwein, worked out the deal with Deputy District Attorney Michael Duarte, which allowed Dewitt to avoid a conviction.

Duarte said the $1,500 would go toward defraying Schaefer's medical expenses, though Schaefer did not end up needing medical treatment on the night of the incident.

"It's a reasonable resolution to both sides," Duarte said.

Dewitt has already taken 30 of the required 52 anger management sessions, which are generally ordered in cases of domestic violence. She also plans to complete her 100 hours of required community service at a volunteer program in Carson.

Informed of the settlement on Thursday afternoon, Schaefer declined to comment: "I have absolutely nothing to say to you, in a million million trillion zillion years," she said.

Though this phase of the case is over, Dewitt will be back in court soon enough. A trial is set for next month to determine if there are enough signatures to force a recall of Dear, and Schaefer is urging a civil judge to make the restraining order permanent.

Dewitt plans to oppose that, arguing that she is no threat to Schaefer.

"It's purely political," Dewitt said of the court proceedings. "Obviously somebody was trying very hard to have me prosecuted."

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^^^^^ that is just ridiculous. :nono: I believe the woman faking should be the one to pay restitution for fraud and misconduct. Or just have the whole case dropped and and thrown out of court.

$1500 restitution for medical costs, despite it being acknowledged that no medical treatment was sought? :nono:

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