A Villager is poised to escape prosecution in a criminal case by enrolling in a batterer’s intervention program.
Gretchen Mitchell, 70, was arrested after Sumter County sheriff’s deputies were called to investigate a physical disturbance at about 5 p.m. Feb. 17 at her home at 2195 Kerwood Loop in the Village of Amelia. Mitchell told Sumter County sheriff’s deputies that she suspected her man friend had been “unfaithful” and she wanted him to leave. She admitted she became “upset,” threw clothes at him and used her hand to “smack” him, according to an arrest report. The Massachusetts native, who stands 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 120 pounds, was arrested on a charge of battery and spent the night at the Sumter County Detention Center, where she was initially held without bond.
The next day, which happened to be Mitchell’s 70th birthday, a judge set bond and she was released. She got a ride home with a friend and was dropped off back at her home in the Village of Amelia. When she walked through the door, wearing the same clothes she had been wearing the previous evening, she ordered her man friend out of her home. He refused to leave and dialed 911. When a deputy arrived, Mitchell said she wasn’t leaving. She was arrested for violating a court order which forbade her from having contact with the man and from setting foot in her own home.
However, she will avoid prosecution in both cases if she successfully completes the batterer’s intervention program, according to a pre-trial intervention contract on file in Sumter County Court.
