Woman in Kennett Walmart case to begin serving jail sentence Saturday

KENNETT, Mo. -- Heather Ellis will serve four days in the Dunklin County Jail starting Saturday and ending Dec. 23, in compliance with a plea bargain she entered into with Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle following a three-day trial in Kennett last month.

The trial stemmed from an incident in 2007 involving a scuffle with Kennett police at the Kennett Walmart. The incident drew national attention after Ellis and her family claimed race to be an issue involving the felony charges brought against her. Those charges included resisting arrest and assault on a police officer.

Ellis will enter the jail at noon Saturday and will be released at noon on Monday, according to Swingle. He added that she will then re-enter the jail at 5 p.m. Monday and be released at 5 p.m. Dec. 23.

The schedule will complete four 24-hour shifts, which is the time Ellis must serve in agreement with the plea bargain.

Along with the jail time, Ellis is required to serve one year of unsupervised probation, attend at least two hours of anger management classes and pay court costs and other undefined expenses relating to the jury, the trial and the classes and probation to which she was ordered to comply.

Swingle noted that Ellis' anger management has been set up with a court-appointed professional psychologist. He added that the court costs Ellis must pay total $2,803.52.

These items were all punishments coinciding with the plea bargain Ellis accepted. The plea bargain was similar to the one offered to her by Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Sokoloff two years prior, which she refused to accept.