Ohio Judge Timothy Gilligan is receiving praise — and grabbing headlines — with the creative sentence he handed down last week in the case of an irate customer who flung her chicken burrito bowl at a Chipotle employee in Parma, Ohio, earlier this year.
39-year-old Rosemary Hayne was found guilty on one count of assault for her fast-casual assault on Chipotle employee Emily Russell that was caught on video and went viral online, and was due to serve a 180-day sentence with 90 days suspended for her actions.
“You didn’t get your burrito bowl the way you like it and this is how you respond?” Judge Gilligan questioned during Hayne's sentencing. “This is not real housewives of Parma. This behavior is not acceptable," he added according to the local FOX affiliate.
A woman in Ohio who threw her Chipotle order at a 17-year-old cashier was sentenced to work at a fast-food restaurant for 2 months.
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) December 7, 2023
Rosemary Hayne, 39, was found guilty of 1 count of assault. pic.twitter.com/YXygHUltKz
As Hayne tried to reason, the chicken burrito bowl she was served was "disgusting looking" and not up to her standards, hence the outburst and fowl assault of the Chipotle employee. "I bet you won’t be happy with the food you are going to get in the jail," Judge Gilligan quipped in reply before making Hayne an interesting offer.
"Do you want to walk in [Russell's] shoes for two months and learn how people should treat people, or do you want to do your jail time?" the judge asked. "I'd like to walk in her shoes," Hayne responded.
Now, pending Hayne's following through on the deal by working at least 20 hours per week at a fast food restaurant for two months as she said she plans to, she'll have her jail sentence reduced by 60 days.
According to CBS MoneyWatch, it's "not clear at which restaurant Hayne will work, as her attorney didn't include that information" when he told the outlet she "truly regrets her actions and the pain that it caused."
"My client is grateful for the opportunity to get a job to reduce her sentence and demonstrate her true remorse for her behavior at Chipotle," attorney Joe O'Malley wrote in an email.
Calling Hayne's actions in the Chipotle appalling, Judge Gilligan said he "wanted to come up with a sentence that would hopefully teach her a lesson," according to FOX 8.
"So I thought, why should the city taxpayers pay for her and feed her for 90 days in the jail if I can teach her a sense of empathy?" the judge explained. "I also hope this deters others from this type of behavior."