When a Fairfax County police officer arrested Greenbriar's Jessica Marie Schaeffer in April for drug possession, things quickly went from bad to worse. On the way to jail, she assaulted the officer, tried to escape and landed in even more hot water.
LAST FRIDAY in Circuit Court, Schaeffer, 23, of 13121 Sparrow Tail Lane, was given a one-year suspended sentence for the attempted escape and a year's probation on the drug charge.
The incident occurred April 18, around 2 a.m., when an officer pulled over a car at Stone Road and Awbrey Patent Drive in Centreville. A search yielded narcotics, and two of the three passengers — Schaeffer and Katherine Irby Jones, 27, of Virginia Beach — were arrested.
But while the officer was driving the two women to the Adult Detention Center, Schaeffer decided to make a break for it. Although handcuffed, she was able to free one of her hands and grab the officer’s shirt through the window dividing him from them. She also tried to get control of the cruiser's steering wheel.
To get her to release her grip, the officer struck Schaeffer several times and then pulled the cruiser over. A second officer arrived to help, and they both handcuffed Schaeffer again. In addition, they placed her in ankle restraints.
She was charged with possession of narcotics (cocaine), assault on a police officer, attempted escape with force and possession of marijuana. The marijuana charge was later dropped, and the offense of assault on a police officer was reduced to assault.
On July 10 in General District Court, Judge Mitchell Mutnick found Schaeffer guilty of assault and sentenced her to 12 months in jail, suspending 10 months. The other two charges were handled separately and, on Aug. 21, in Circuit Court, she pleaded guilty to the attempted escape before Judge M. Langhorne Keith.
She returned for sentencing Friday, Oct. 27, and her attorney, Jerry Phillips, said she "hasn't drank or done drugs since the offense in April." Still, countered Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Kathryn Pavluchuk, "There's a serious, substance-abuse issue here and a past DUI."
The prosecutor also told Keith that "some period of incarceration" was appropriate for the attempted-escape charge. "[Schaeffer] says she simply 'slipped out of her handcuffs,'" said Pavluchuk. "But the officer says she reached out and tried to grab the steering wheel."
Phillips said his client had already spent time in jail for the assault charge and, following her escape attempt, "She was injured — hurt pretty badly — and taken to the hospital. And she has several health problems. She stresses out, and she had a hard time in jail and has certainly learned her lesson."
He admitted that Schaeffer had cocaine residue in the car when she was arrested, but blamed her troubles on a traumatic incident she suffered more than a year ago.
"In mid-summer 2005, a rape attempt caused her the problems that landed her here," explained Phillips. "After she was handcuffed, the incident of July '05 came back to her, and she didn't want to be restrained." He then asked the judge to place her on probation and "let her live her life — which she has gotten straight, over the past nine months."
Then, crying, Schaeffer herself pleaded with Judge Keith for mercy. "I hope you give me a chance," she said. "I have a full-time job, I'm active in my church and I volunteer. Give me a chance to show I've changed and I am so sorry for what I did."
KEITH GAVE her what's known as a "251 disposition" for the cocaine-possession charge. It enables the charge to be dismissed in a year, providing Schaeffer commits no more violations of the law.
He also placed her on a year's probation, on the condition that she participates in whatever substance-abuse program her probation officer recommends, as well as the recidivist-prevention program.
Keith then suspended Schaeffer's driver's license for six months, but said he'd approve of her applying for a restricted license so she could drive to and from her job.
Regarding the attempted-escape offense, he sentenced her to 12 months in jail, suspending all that time and placing her on one year's probation — to run concurrently with the probation he gave her for the cocaine-possession charge.