Missouri Mom on Trial for Beating Son’s Heroin Dealer

[pricestar8]

Jury selection began Monday followed by a trial Tuesday morning for an Imperial, Mo., woman accused of third-degree assault regarding a case in which Sherrie Gavan, 54, beat her son's heroin dealer with a baseball bat. Of the 27 jurors in the pool, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports attorneys for the prosecution and defense had trouble narrowing the field over the eight-hour procedure. Some potential jurors were brought to tears as Jefferson County, Mo., has been hit hard with heroin cases and several people have been personally affected by the controlled substance.

* This case stems from Gavan's alleged beating of her next door neighbor. Joshua Loyd, 22, supposedly sold heroin to to her 19-year-old son, Clayton, as he was trying to recover from his addiction. The final straw came when Loyd allegedly sold Gavan's son drugs at the pizza restaurant she managed in South St. Louis County.

* Later the same day in which Clayton was given the heroin, Gavan says she went to Loyd's house to confront him. As he supposedly reached into his car to grab something, the mother hit him in the elbow with a baseball bat twice, according to the media outlet. Gavan didn't know if he was reaching for a gun.

* Loyd has numerous convictions on his record, which made jury selection difficult. Several questions posed to the jury pool included would you believe a key witness who has previous drug convictions on his record?

* Steve Loyd maintains his son's innocence to the Post-Dispatch. He claims Gavan slammed on her brakes, jumped out her car and swung for his son's head instead of an elbow. The father claims his son doesn't deal drugs whatsoever.

* Gavan was charged with misdemeanor assault in late January 2012. Loyd's conviction on felony drug charges occurred in November, according to a search of Missouri Case Net records. FindLaw.com states Gavan may be able to win her case provided she can prove self-defense and used a reasonable amount of force to protect herself from potential harm.

 

* The mother tried several methods to protect her son from drugs including confiscating his cell phone, enrolling him in a new high school, daily drug testing and taking Clayton to work with her. None of those methods worked until she discovered it was a neighbor -- Joshua Loyd -- who supposedly sold the drugs.

* Potential juror Dave Landsbury, of Fenton, Mo., told the Post-Dispatch his son died of a heroin overdose just 2 1/2 months before jury selection in this case. Landsbury was not chosen as part of the panel deciding Gavan's legal fate.

William Browning, a lifelong Missouri resident, writes about local and state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Born in St. Louis, Browning earned his bachelor's degree in English from the University of Missouri. He currently resides in Branson.

 

 

[Shabibilicious]

She should have knocked his block completely off..........and then if there were time, beat the crap out of her kid, as well.  Drug addiction is a two way street.   As always, just my opinion.

 

GO RV, then BV

[Belecosity]

get r done moma!

[dog53]

I applaud this lady. Every heroin dealer in this country should be hung by their thumbs and beaten

Second offence executed 

[Goldiegirl]

Unfortunately for her, she broke the law...now if it was me....I would have shot him up with his own stuff....and he'd be a vegetable..a squash perhaps.   The problem with that is dealing with the Karma.