Several sentences handed down in Alleghany Superior Court

Judge Douglas Albright sentenced Joyce Ann Rachels last week to two years in prison for trying to run over a sheriff's department officer last July.

Albright handed down the sentence May 1 near the end of the session of Alleghany County Superior Court which began April 28. The sentence resulted from a plea agreement, apparently arrived at shortly beforehand.

Rachels pleaded no contest to seven felony counts of breaking and entering a motor vehicle and seven counts of larceny, along with one count of assault with a deadly weapon on a government official. She received a suspended sentence on one of the breaking-and-entering counts, and the rest of the charges were consolidated.

After Rachels announced her plea and before sentencing her, Albright asked Det. Ricky J. Lyall of the Alleghany County Sheriff's Department, who filed the charges against Rachels, about the details of the case.

Lyall said he was investigating a series of automobile break-ins at Tommy's Garage. The investigation led him to Rachels and William Jonathan Jones, who were sitting in a parked Subaru along Fox Ridge Road on July 30, 2002.

After Lyall approached the two, he said, Jones pulled a knife on him, and Rachels jumped on him from behind.

"Was she laying a cussing on you?" Albright asked.

"Yes, sir," responded Lyall. "I've known Miss Rachels for years."

"You've had trouble with her before? You've had to fight with her before?" the judge asked.

"Yes. She said she was going to run over me."

As Lyall was subduing Jones, Rachels got back in the Subaru and drove toward Lyall. He shot twice at the vehicle, he said.

Later that day, Lyall, Deputy Tim Duncan and Sparta Police Lt. Rex Wyatt found Rachels at her home and arrested her. "All three of us had to fight her in the house," said Lyall. Stolen property was recovered in the Subaru and in the kitchen of the house; some of it was damaged with a hammer.

Albright remarked to Lyall, "I'd say you had your hands full for a while — a fella threatening you with a switchblade knife telling you what he's going to do to you, and a fighting, cussing woman trying to jump you from behind, running and trying to run over you with the car." Lyall agreed with the judge's assessment.

Rachels' attorney, William Graham, said insurance compensated Tommy's Garage (represented by Karen Billings, who was present in the courtroom) for much of the damage. He said the sheriff's department delivered Rachels' statements to him the day before the plea hearing and sentencing.

Albright said Rachels has a record going back to 1993 including four altercations with law enforcement personnel. "What is it about law enforcement officers that sets her off?" he asked rhetorically. Graham affirmed that alcohol was involved in the incident.

Albright said to Rachels, "You're the luckiest gal that is....By action of the legislature the most I can give her is 24 months (for the assault with a deadly weapon charge). The other cases have to be probated."

He sentenced her to 24 to 29 months in the N.C. Department of Corrections' facility for female prisoners. The suspended sentence was for eight to 10 months.

Albright's sentence also included five years intensive supervised probation. He ordered Rachels to pay a $500 fine and $500 restitution.

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