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Judge sends woman with family‑violence conviction to residential program after sister’s plea
Summary
Audrey Sterling pled no‑contest to a family‑violence charge; her sister testified at length about decades of instability and urged the court to keep Audrey in custody or residential treatment. The court ordered program placement (Mary Freedom Hall) with mental‑health and substance‑abuse evaluation and random screens.
Audrey Sterling entered a no‑contest plea to a family‑violence count and the court accepted a negotiated disposition that requires a substance‑abuse evaluation, any recommended treatment, and a mental‑health evaluation. The court placed her in Mary Freedom Hall (referred to in the record as Mary Hall Freedom Village) and specified that failure to complete the program would trigger an immediate revocation hearing.
Jocelyn Sterling, identified in the record as Audrey’s sister, told the court she had repeatedly observed the cycle of drug and alcohol use and said: “I believe Audrey needs to stay where she is. It breaks my heart to say it, but she is better off in jail.” The judge discussed the underlying trauma and urged Audrey to engage in deeper mental‑health work beyond surface‑level program participation. The court ordered no return to the incident address, one opportunity to recover undisputed personal property under sheriff’s supervision, random screens for alcohol/illicit drugs, and regular probation reporting.
The judge emphasized that completing treatment was not simply “getting through” a program: she instructed Audrey to “dig that stuff out and start talking about it,” and made completion of treatment a condition of avoiding revocation.
