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Case of Bloomfield Burger King worker accused of putting bleach in food will go to trial.
Marisa Howard, a 26-year-old Bloomfield woman who pleaded guilty in February to three misdemeanor aggravated battery charges for allegedly putting powdered bleach into customers' food, will go to trial after all, the Farmington Daily Times reported. State District Judge John Dean tossed out the plea agreement on Wednesday, the day Howard was to be sentenced, saying the plea deal amounted to double jeopardy, charging the woman for the same crime more than once, the Daily Times said. Howard originally was charged with three third-degree felonies, including battery and two counts of child abuse because two of the three teenagers in the July 2007 incident were under 18, the paper reported. Prosecutors had agreed to reduce the charges because there was no evidence to prove Howard's actions caused any of the victims great bodily harm, the Daily Times said. But under Dean's ruling, the plea bargain would have been acceptable if it had involved a single charge, but Chief Deputy District Attorney Dustin O'Brien disagreed, saying "You've got three separate people that suffered as a result of this." The teens -- Justin Harcrow, Brady Gillen and Mariah Gallion -- reportedly argued that they were being charged too much at the drive-up window of the Bloomfield Burger King, and when they got their food they said it didn't taste right and began to burn in their mouths, according to police reports. Howard later allegedly admitted to police that she put a powdered bleach sink sanitizer in the food, court documents said. Now that the misdemeanor plea agreement has been tossed out, Howard will go to trial on the three original felony counts and could be sentenced to up to nine years if she is convicted, the Daily Times reported.
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