Wal-Mart fracas defendant cops a plea

KENNETT, Mo., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The young woman accused of assaulting police during a fracas at a Missouri Wal-Mart pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace late Friday.

Heather Ellis's plea deal spares her a prison sentence, except for four days in jail the judge called "shock detention," the Daily Dunklin Democrat reported. She agreed to admit the two misdemeanor charges with a sentence of a year's unsupervised probation, a short anger-management class and payment of jury expenses.

Ellis entered the plea after the jury began deliberations. On the witness stand earlier, Ellis, who is black, denied attacking police and said they assaulted her and used racial slurs.

Ellis, a 24-year-old teacher, was a college student at the time of the 2007 incident. A prosecutor said she cut into the checkout line at a Wal-Mart in Kennett, used profanity while abusing employees, then attacked police when they were called.

She testified a police officer told her: "Look at this stupid (expletive). Take your (expletive) back to the ghetto."

Kennett, the Dunklin County seat, is a small city in southeastern Missouri with a shrinking population. About 13 percent of the residents are black, and the police department is overwhelmingly white.

In June, when Ellis supporters held a rally, police found cards reading: "You have been paid a social visit by the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The next visit will not be social."

Another rally Monday drew a small group of counter-protesters waving Confederate flags.