Jennifer Wilbanks, the infamous runaway bride, has been indicted on one count of making false statements, a felony, and one count of falsely reporting a crime, a misdemeanor.
At a news conference, Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said the penalty for the felony charge is 1 to 5 years behind bars; the misdemeanor carries a sentence of up to 12 months in confinement.
From FOX:
"We believe that the grand jury made the appropriate decision," Porter said Wednesday in a news conference.
Wilbanks' family has been in negotiations with Porter over a possible settlement, but Porter said before the grand jury proceedings that no agreement had been reached.
...Porter has said Wilbanks could face a misdemeanor charge of filing a false report or a felony charge of making false statements for telling authorities she had been kidnapped. Wilbanks' lawyer has said she doesn't think her client should be charged with a crime.
...Several state and county agencies already said they will not ask her to reimburse them for a total of $10,000 spent in additional search costs. But the city of Duluth still is seeking repayment of about $40,000 and Mayor Shirley Lassetter said her city attorney has been in negotiations with Wilbanks' attorney, Lydia Sartain.
Sartain has said she does not think Wilbanks committed a crime in Gwinnett County. Authorities in Albuquerque have already said they will not charge Wilbanks.
"The citizens of the county will be ill-served by an attempted prosecution," Sartain said.
Although Wilbanks is a troubled individual and deserves some compassion, she is not above the law.
Many people get the pre-wedding jitters; but they don't report that they've been kidnapped.
In addition to putting her family, friends, and fiance through hell, she abused the resources of law enforcement, not to mention exploited the concern of strangers as they tirelessly searched for her.
FOR NOTHING! I sympathsize with Wilbanks's stress, but what she did cannot simply be dismissed. A book and TV movie deal should not be the only repercussions of the incident. Some punitive consequences are in order.
I think the grand jury made the appropriate decision. In the end, she probably won't serve a day behind bars. Nonetheless, the law can't be set aside for Wilbanks. She needs to be held accountable for her actions.
You can run, but you can't hide.
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