Posted on 02/17/2010 8:42:02 PM PST by rhema
Mechelle Hall dabbed tears from her eyes Tuesday as she pleaded guilty to second-degree assault for brandishing a knife and threatening a woman who urged her not to get an abortion.
Yet, she revealed later, she never got it.
Hall, 26, of Superior, admitted her crime in a St. Louis County courtroom under questioning by county prosecutor Nathaniel Stumme. Public defender Laura Zimm told Judge David Johnson that, under terms of a plea agreement, Hall would receive probation and wouldn’t have to serve any jail time. It was a routine, perfunctory court hearing.
The surprise came when Hall was reached by phone at her Superior home Tuesday evening. She said she never had the planned abortion. Hall said she decided to keep the baby after being confronted by anti-abortion protesters Leah Winandy and her mother, Sarah, on Nov. 24. She said she was stressed out and they made her realize that she didn’t want to end the life she was carrying inside her.
Hall was asked if there was anything she’d like to say to the Winandys.
“Thank you for being there,” she said. “If they weren’t there, I probably would have gone through with it and regretted it for the rest of my life. It probably would have gone the other way. I’m sincerely sorry for doing that to her.”
Reached at her northern Wisconsin home Tuesday evening, Leah Winandy, 21, said she was protesting abortions on behalf of Pro Life Ministries of Duluth and handing out pamphlets on First Street outside the Building for Women when confronted by Hall.
“I was there to ask mothers not to kill their babies at the abortion clinic,” she said. “She [Hall] was walking toward me. She pulled out a knife and waved it at me saying ‘Don’t come near me.’ I said, ‘Please don’t kill your baby. Fear God.’ I came to the edge of the courtyard. I said, ‘Look and listen to your ultrasound.’ She turned around and came back with a knife and held it up to my throat.”
Winandy said she was contacted by the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office and asked if she would be agreeable to Hall receiving probation instead of a guideline prison sentence. She agreed.
“I forgive Mechelle for what she did; I do forgive her because God has given me forgiveness in my heart for her,” Winandy said.
Hall said she will learn the sex of her child at her next ultrasound next month.
Isn’t her “freedom of choice” enough to cover her knifing someone? Or is only babies that people are allowed to kill without legal consequences?
Note that had a purse snatcher robbed the women entering the abortion clinic and shot and killed her he’d be charged with TWO murders. So... we know that it’s murder as a basic level of logic but we ignore that and allow it for convenience. Pathetic.
Asking for and receiving forgiveness is a beautiful thing. Praise God!
The power of Jesus - loving, quiet, forgiving with a powerful message that saves our souls.
Thanks be to God.
Very cool. Praise the Lord.
Thanks be to God!!!
Thank God for another miracle.
I know that in reality, it is "because God has FORGIVEN me"...
>>“Thank you for being there,” she said. “If they weren’t there, I probably would have gone through with it and regretted it for the rest of my life. It probably would have gone the other way. I’m sincerely sorry for doing that to her.” <<
Quite a statement. I believe her — and her actions in keeping the child speak louder than any verbal statement.
FWIIW, if someone pulled a knife on me I would be very angry. But if I later found out that as a result of that action an innocent life was saved, as well as an adult soul, I would be pretty good with the whole scenario (OK, I would probably feel real good).
God works in mysterious ways...
>>Isn’t her “freedom of choice” enough to cover her knifing someone? Or is only babies that people are allowed to kill without legal consequences?<<
I am seeing an epiphany here — resulting from the panic and ambivalence (feminazis told her for her entire life that abortion was meaningless — God and the child in her said the opposite) that created the crucible from which she emerged.
From what I read, it was brandishing, no real cutting.
But maybe you picked up on something I didn’t.
A change of location and a change of surname might help keep this private while the child grows up.
Very good observation.
Pro-life ping!
That was definitely a God thing. Praise be to God! What an incredibe story!
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