Frenchman fined $300 for assault on Cape woman

Nearly five months after a Cape Girardeau woman reported being the victim of road rage, a French native living in Cape Girardeau has pleaded guilty to grabbing her.

Nicolas Raudin, 33, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault May 1 in Jackson, admitting he reached into another driver's car Dec. 10, jerked her seat belt and grabbed her face in an effort to force her to look at him as he spoke to her.

Originally scheduled for a bench trial Monday, Raudin also faced another misdemeanor for reportedly punching the woman, but that charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement reached with the prosecuting attorney's office.

Raudin, an engineer working on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, was fined $300. He moved to Cape Girardeau in January 2002 as an employee of the French bridge cable construction firm, Freyssinet.

Cape Girardeau resident Marilyn Zeller told police that after she left the Hardee's parking lot on William Street, Raudin used his van to force her to pull over to the side of the road, where he accosted her. Zeller did not suffer any injuries.

A witness gave police the license plate number on a blue van driven by a man seen reaching into Zeller's car, and the tip led investigators to Raudin. In a written statement to the police, Raudin said Zeller had changed lanes in front of his van, nearly causing an accident, and he stopped her only to tell her this.

He was initially charged in municipal court, but the case was moved up to the state court after Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle reviewed it. Swingle's office decided not to seek probation because Raudin reportedly will return to France this summer after his work on the bridge is finished.

"Had this been someone who was going to stay in the U.S., probation would have been likely, along with court-ordered counseling for aggressive behavior," Swingle said.

Zeller said she hoped for more than a fine but agreed it was probably the only workable solution for the courts due to complications created by Raudin's residency.

"I'd have preferred he got probation and some counseling," she said. "That would have been the only thing that would have done any good. Fining him doesn't do any good because it doesn't change anything."

Raudin refused to comment Monday. His defense attorney, Gerald Johnson, said his client pleaded guilty to put the matter behind him and so that he could concentrate on his work.

Raudin plans to leave in June, Johnson said, and the conviction could affect whether he'd be allowed back in the United States on another visa.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160