A Dakota County judge has denied a Lakeville mother's choice of prison time over probation for hiding her two teen daughters from their father.
On Monday, Judge Karen Asphaug did not allow Sandra Grazzini-Rucki to serve up to eight months in prison. Instead, Grazzini-Rucki will serve the previously sentenced six years of probation and annual stints of 15 days in jail until 2022, to be served on the anniversary that her daughters were found.
Monday's court decision to deny Grazzini-Rucki's prison time came after an unusual twist where she chose to execute a prison sentence in lieu of the probation and jail time.
Stephen Grigsby, one of Grazzini-Rucki's attorneys, called the judge's actions Monday "legally questionable."
"This was really an irrational act by the court," Grigsby said. "I have said that [Grazzini-Rucki] has no intentions to comply with probation."
Grigsby said the prosecutor also agreed that if his client prefers jail time, then the defendant should be allowed to execute the sentence.
Before Asphaug sentenced Grazzini-Rucki in September, the girl's father, David Rucki, begged the judge to give her "the highest sentence permitted."
"Sandy no longer understands what it means to be a parent, and therefore I don't think she understands what she's taken from me, or more importantly, my children," Rucki said last month.
