La Puente mother avoids jail time for telling her daughter to punch another basketball player
The 44-year-old La Puente mother who told her daughter to punch another player during a basketball game avoided any jail time much to the dismay of the victim's mom Alice Ham.
"I just can't in good conscience let this go," said Ham. "As a mom, I just can't in good conscience sweep this under the rug."
In November 2021, Ham's daughter was left concussed on a Garden Grove youth basketball court after being punched by an opposing player. The attacker's mother, Tira Hunt, was charged with misdemeanor battery and contributing to the delinquency of a minor after she told her daughter to hit Ham's child.
"Parents should go there to cheer," said Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard Pacheco. "It's a sporting event with kids This shouldn't occur."
While Hunt could have spent time behind bars, she was instead ordered to complete 12 weeks of anger management classes before being allowed to attend future sporting events.
During the trial, Ham read a statement on behalf of her daughter who is now 16 years old. We removed the name of Hunt's daughter.
"Miss Hunt, I hope you know that I heard what you said to [your daughter]," Ham's daughter wrote. "Your callous and heartless words telling [your daughter] to hit me are highly disturbing and reprehensible. You chose to use your daughter to promote an act of violence and you condoned your daughter doing it. What kind of mom does that?"
The suspect's lawyer Brett Greenfield said that Hunt and her daughter had already taken responsibility for the attack and had tried to make amends with Ham and her daughter.
"Apologized and did everything they could to rectify a bad situation," he said. "You know, youth sports can sometimes get emotional."
According to her mother, the victim Lauren Ham suffered a lot of psychological damage but is back on the court.
"Something has to change, people need to wake up," said Alice. "This kind of behavior is not acceptable and that's the whole reason why I'm here."
