Judge's gavel pierces hearts

On Valentine's Day, a jurist doesn't give in to a couple's plea for delayed sentencing.

By John Frank, Times Staff Writer
Published February 15, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT Judge Jack Springstead doesn't like to delay sentencing for fear the defendant could commit another crime in between court appearances.

BROOKSVILLE - St. Valentine is no match for steel-hearted justice.

See, the law is stale, rigid and aloof. It doesn't recognize holidays, especially Hallmark-generated affairs like Valentine's Day.

Jesse James Dunn learned this lesson Thursday morning in Circuit Judge Jack Springstead's courtroom. The 22-year-old Pasco County man stood for a day of reckoning on charges he violated the terms of his probation on battery charges.

For more than the obvious reasons, Dunn didn't want to be there. In the first row of benches sat his fiancee, Kristina Walton of Moon Lake, 24, nearly eight months pregnant and crying uncontrollably.

With each big sob, he turned to Walton and mouthed words only she could understand.

Dunn, facing significant prison time, asked for the lightest possible punishment, 18 months behind bars. He got it.

But what he wanted more than anything was a delayed sentencing - another month before his term started so he could see the birth of the couple's second child.

The judge, cloaked in black and wielding a gavel, is not a Cupid with love-tipped arrows. He said no.

Through his attorney, Dunn asked to put the case off until the end of the trial docket, begging for just a few more hours with his fiancee.

Again, the judge said no.

"The moment has come," Springstead said.

Dunn turned to Walton and gave a pitiful, powerless frown. The sobs from the front row grew louder. After the couple locked eyes one last time, Dunn was led away in handcuffs.

The clash of the law's cold standard and the couple's raw affection brought overcast looks to faces in the courtroom.

"It's Valentine's Day. It's so sad," said Sherry Walton, Kristina's mother, who was also in court.

Afterward, Springstead explained he doesn't like to delay sentencing. He learned his lesson years ago when he made an exception only to have the defendant commit another crime in between court appearances.

"The message is he got treated like everyone else," the judge said. "Maybe it isn't the best timing, but the court doesn't tell them when to get violated" on their probation.

To be sure, Dunn is no angel. This most recent mess started shortly before his 19th birthday, when he got into a fight and broke another guy's jaw. Authorities said it wasn't self-defense and Dunn pleaded no contest to battery charges.

He received five years house arrest, but was arrested repeatedly for violating his probation terms. At one point, his probation officer cited him for leaving the house to take Kristina's son to the hospital when he had a fever of 103 degrees. The officer said Dunn should have called an ambulance or asked another adult to drive the child.

In the end, it all added up and Dunn knew prison time was next. He and Kristina just wanted more time.

She said she fell in love at first sight nearly three years ago, soon after she separated from her first husband. "I felt like I was a 10-year-old kid who had a crush on a teacher," she said wiping away tears.

The couple's child - "finally, a girl," Kristina said - is due in late March. They already picked a name: Faith Angel Dunn.

"Faith," Kristina Walton said, "is what's getting us through this."

John Frank can be reached at jfrank@sptimes.com or 754-6114.

[Last modified February 14, 2008, 21:03:40]