版权声明：转载时请以超链接形式标明文章原始出处和作者信息及本声明
http://poop.blogbus.com/logs/1233236.html

'Runaway bride' pleads no contest to felony（1）

Wilbanks sentenced to 2 years probation（2）, community service

Thursday, June 2, 2005 Posted: 9:52 AM EDT (1352 GMT)

LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- Choking up before a Georgia judge, "runaway bride" Jennifer Wilbanks on Thursday pleaded no contest to a felony charge of making false statements to police.

"I'm truly sorry for my actions," Wilbanks told Gwinnett County Judge Ronnie Batchelor.

The judge sentenced her to two years of probation, 120 hours of community service and ordered that she continue mental health treatment. But Batchelor denied a request from Wilbanks' attorney, Lydia Sartain, that the charge be considered a misdemeanor（3）.

The arrangement apparently was a plea deal, in which a misdemeanor charge of making a false police report was dismissed.

The charge stems from Wilbanks bolting four days before her wedding and later telling police she was abducted and assaulted when she surfaced later in New Mexico.

Accompanied by her fiance, John Mason, on Thursday morning, Wilbanks faced a gauntlet of TV cameras as she prepared to enter the Gwinnett County Courthouse.

"How are you guys holding up?" someone ask Wilbanks, who replied, "OK." She nodded when asked if she and Mason were "happy this whole thing is wrapping up."

The medical assistant from the Atlanta suburb of Duluth had been scheduled to marry April 30 at a lavish (4)wedding with 600 guests and 28 attendants. Four days before the ceremony, she disappeared, prompting a massive search that local authorities said cost thousands of dollars.

Eventually Wilbanks called authorities from a pay phone in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and said two people had abducted her, then recanted （5）her story during questioning by the FBI and police.

Local authorities negotiated a possible settlement with Wilbanks' attorneys over the cost of the search for her.

Wilbanks agreed to pay $13,250 to the city of Duluth to help pay for her search, Mayor Shirley Lasseter told The Associated Press this week. The AP reported Duluth was writing off about $30,000 in other costs in the hunt.

After returning to Georgia, Wilbanks voluntarily entered an inpatient treatment program "to address physical and mental issues," according to a public relations firm for her church.

On April 26, Wilbanks failed to return to a home she shared with her fiance after telling him she was going for an evening jog.

Four days later, Wilbanks called police and then her fiance from an Albuquerque, New Mexico, convenience store（6）.

A copy of an Albuquerque police report says she initially told police and FBI agents she had been abducted and sexually assaulted before being released at the store.

When an FBI agent told her that her story did not seem credible, "Jennifer admitted she had lied about the kidnapping and the sexual assault," the report said. "She had left Georgia because of the pressures of her wedding. The list of things she needed to get done and no time to do it made her feel overwhelmed."

Wilbanks told officers that before going jogging she had called a taxi, which took her to a Greyhound bus terminal in Atlanta. She went by bus to Las Vegas, Nevada, and then Albuquerque, she said.

Wilbanks has issued a public apology through her family's pastor（7）. Although the statement made no mention of her plans to marry Mason, both of them separately have said the marriage is still on.

"Later recantation doesn't excuse you from the criminal behavior, under Georgia law," Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said. "That would be like stealing something and then putting it back. It doesn't help you to say, 'Oh, I put it back.' "

words:

(1)felony: a serious crime such as murder
ￚsee also misdemeanour   重罪

（2）probation：试用、见习、缓刑1
a system that allows some criminals not to go to prison or to leave prison, if they behave well and see a probation officer regularly, for a particular period of time
The judge sentenced Jennings to three years' probation. (put/place somebody) on probation He pleaded guilty and was placed on probation.
2
a period of time, during which an employer can see if a new worker is suitable
a three month probation period
on probation
Some people are appointed on probation.
3
American English a period of time in which you must improve your work or behave well so that you will not have to leave your job
I'm afraid I have no choice but to put you on probation .

ￚprobationary adjective a probationary period

（3）misdemeanor：A misdeed.不良行为
Law An offense less serious than a felony.
【法律】 轻罪：比重罪要轻的违法行为

(4)lavish:非常大方的、过于丰富的、浪费的1
large, impressive, or expensive
a royal palace on a lavish scale a lavish lifestyle The food was lavish.
2
very generous
lavish with/in
We were always lavish with financial aid in times of crisis. He was always lavish in his praise of my efforts.

（5）recant：放弃to say publicly that you no longer have a political or religious belief that you had before

（6）convenience store：（美）高质高价的自助食品商店

（7）pastor：（新教）牧师a Christian priest in some Protestant churches
the pastor of Carr's Lane Congregational church Pastor Martin Niemoller