By ANDREW TILGHMAN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
A McDonald's customer who flew into a violent rage when she was denied mayonnaise on her cheeseburger got 10 years in prison today for running over the restaurant's manager.
Waynetta Nolan, 37, could have received as much as 20 years in prison for hitting Sherry Allen Jenkins with her car, dragging the employee across the parking lot and breaking her pelvis at the McDonald's in southwest Houston.
Nolan showed little emotion this afternoon when the jury came back with the punishment after four hours of deliberation. Earlier this morning, however, as the jury heard testimony in the punishment phase of Nolan's trial, her 43-year-old victim tearfully said she couldn't pick up her grandchildren because of the injuries she suffered in the incident.
"I put the mayonnaise on her burger," Jenkins told jurors. "I took the onions and the mustard off. What did I do?"
Jurors took less than an hour on Wednesday to convict Nolan of aggravated assault in the courtroom of state District Judge Brock Thomsas. Nolan testified then that she thought she had rolled over "a bump" when she ran over Jenkins.
Nolan was contrite during her testimony today and apologized for running over Jenkins on April 23. She said she had been going through "a bad time" in her life when she lost it in the drive-through line.
The incident began when an 18-year-old employee working at the drive-through window near Bissonnet and Beltway 8 told Nolan mayonnaise was not an option on McDonald's cheeseburgers. When Nolan became angry, she was encouraged to pull her car around to the window counter and speak to the manager.
Witnesses said Nolan cursed and threw a cheeseburger back though the drive-through window.
When Jenkins offered a special-order cheeseburger with mayonnaise, witnesses said, Nolan complained her french fries had grown cold. After receiving new fries, she then demanded a new drink.
Unable to pacify the belligerent customer, Jenkins finally called police, who asked her to get the customer's license plate number. Jenkins walked out to the drive-through line to get the number.
Nolan testified she had inched her car forward to put ketchup on her burger when she heard a car horn. Realizing she was blocking drive-through traffic, she said, she gunned her car forward and hit Jenkins.
After running over Jenkins, witnesses said, Nolan sped from the parking lot and drove into oncoming traffic on a one-way feeder road. She was arrested at her home after a man who saw the assault followed her and reported her plate to police.
Jurors had the option of convicting Nolan of a lesser crime, such as misdemeanor reckless driving, but prosecutors said it was her spectacular departure that likely led to her felony assault conviction.
"Did she stop?" asked Assistant District Attorney John Jordan. "Did she say, `Oh my Lord, what have I done?' "
Nolan's attorney, Troy Wilson, said his client simply panicked.
"I think more than anything, it was the panic afterward that hurt her with the jury."
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