Former Jackson police officer enters plea, avoids jail
[gtxvideo vid=”N5VfGa70″ playlist=”” pid=”OTSe9U1y” thumb=”http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/N5VfGa70.jpg” vtitle=”Peaches In Court 5”]
JACKSON, Tenn.– A former Jackson police officer accused of putting her hand in a baby‘s diaper is sentenced to six months probation and given the chance to have the charge erased from her record. The baby‘s family said the punishment is not strong enough. “Justice has not been served,” Lenester McAlister, the baby‘s grandmother, said. Outrage from family members Thursday after hearing Peaches Nesbitt will not do jail time. McAlister said Nesbitt put her hand in her granddaughter‘s diaper. “She had no right to take my grandbaby,” McAlister said. “She had no right to put her hands in my grandbaby’s diaper. She had no right to do nobody’s baby like that.” Nesbitt, charged with simple assault, entered a best interest plea in Jackson City Court on Thursday. The deal keeps her from having to admit she did anything criminally wrong. “That’s not right,” Courtney McKinnie, the baby‘s mother, said. “If it was anybody else they would have been locked up.” Surveillance cameras at the checkout inside Walmart in North Jackson caught the June 25 incident on video. “I was just trying to show her about the stuff on her child’s back,” Nesbitt said. Nesbitt‘s attorney, Mark Donahoe, said his client did not stick her hand in the baby‘s diaper. “Ms. Nesbitt reached out turned the baby so she could see it, gave it, and turned the baby back and gave it back to the mother,” Donahoe said. Nesbitt will serve six months probation, complete 24 hours community service, and pay a $150 fine. “God knows the truth, what actually happened,” Nesbitt said. “I have given it to the Lord and it is not over,” McAlister said. “The Lord is gonna work this out.” The baby‘s family, who argues Nesbitt received special treatment, said they plan to file a civil lawsuit. The plea agreement requires Nesbitt not have any contact with the victim. Nesbitt‘s attorney said they plan to file an order that would get the charge off her record.
