Plea deal reached in store scuffle case

• Associated Press (AP)
• Published: Nov 20, 2009 - UPDATED: 8 p.m.

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KENNETT, Mo. (AP) — After three days of trial and 2 1/2 hours of jury deliberation, the Heather Ellis case ends in a compromise: a plea agreement convicting her of two misdemeanor counts.

The deal announced Friday night means the 24-year-old school teacher avoids a felony conviction for a scuffle at a southeast Missouri Wal-Mart in January 2007.

Ellis agreed to plead guilty to resisting arrest and peace disturbance. Prosecutor Morley Swingle dropped two felony counts of assault on a law officer.

As part of the deal, Ellis will be placed on unsupervised probation for a year, must serve four days of shock jail time and must attend at least two hours of anger management class.

After the trial, Ellis said despite the conviction she still is pleased that the trial took place so that her story could be told.

In Louisiana, Central Community Schools Superintendent Michael Faulk confirmed Wednesday that Heather Renae Ellis is a teacher at Central High School and that she took leave this week. Faulk said he will evaluate her situation when she returns.

The Louisiana Department of Education’s Web site lists Ellis, a Xavier University graduate, as having a one-year practitioner teacher license, which allows her to teach biology in the Central school system while continuing to work toward a Level I teaching certificate through the Louisiana Resource Center for Educators.