SMETHPORT – After a brief, but emotionally charged hearing
Thursday morning in McKean County Court, Nikole Smock was granted
permission for a furlough from jail to take college courses on the
Internet.

Smock, 20, of East Main Street, Bradford, is serving a sentence
of 12 to 24 months incarceration on a charge of accidents involving
injury.

On Dec. 30, 2007, in the parking lot adjacent to the Option
House in Bradford, a vehicle driven by Smock, and in which Zachary
Coon was a passenger, ran over Alissa Cameron, 20, and left the
scene without stopping.

Smock had not been drinking, and had gone to the bar to pick up
Coon.

Cameron died several days later in an Erie hospital from
injuries suffered in the accident.

In early July, Smock’s attorney, Patricia Ambrose of Erie, had
filed a motion for immediate work release or furlough to allow her
client to attend the classes, which cannot be accessed from the
McKean County Jail.

On July 7, Judge Richard Saxton granted the motion with the
stipulation that, should the District Attorney object, the order
would be stayed until a hearing could be held. The District
Attorney’s office filed an objection, leading to the hearing
Thursday.

“Miss Smock is a student at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh,”
Ambrose said. “At the prison, she has achieved trustee status.
We’re asking for a furlough for her to attend online classes …
we’re asking that she be able to continue with her education.”

Ambrose said that while the classes were not accessible from the
jail, the Hamlin Memorial Library in Smethport is able to
accommodate Smock. Librarian Lori Rounsville was in attendance at
the hearing.

“I don’t think it’s an unreasonable request,” Ambrose said. “Her
co-defendant (Coon) has been granted work release. We’re asking for
the same treatment.”

Assistant District Attorney Ray Learn explained to Saxton that
the victim’s family was strongly opposed to the motion.

“They feel that any diminishment of the sentence would diminish
the seriousness of the crime,” Learn said.

“I’m aware of the position of the family. I’m well aware,”
Saxton said. “And it is a tough decision.”

He asked Ambrose what the schedule of the online classes would
be. She said that wasn’t available.

“She could do the online classes whenever her sentence would
permit,” Ambrose said. She added that Smock has restitution to pay
and community service to perform. Allowing her to finish her
education would better enable the restitution to be paid.

“The only reason this would be allowed is because of the
restitution,” Saxton said. “I believe it’s probably more
appropriate for release in terms of education” that the classes
could be taken here as opposed to in Pittsburgh.

“Coupled with the fact that she’s received trustee status, the
sole reason is to allow her the opportunity to repay the
restitution at a quicker pace,” Saxton said, granting the
furlough.

As he did, Alissa Cameron’s twin sister Leanna, seated in the
gallery of the courtroom, threw the papers she was holding to the
floor, got up and angrily left the courtroom, slamming the door
behind her. She could then be heard yelling outside the courtroom
before security asked her to leave the building.

After her exit, Learn asked the judge to consider imposing some
sort of time restriction on Smock’s furlough. Saxton said no,
adding that isn’t done for work release and would not be done in
this instance either.

He then ended the hearing and left the courtroom.

As the spectators left the courtroom, Ian Cameron, brother to
Leanna and Alissa, picked up the papers his sister had thrown and
handed them to an Era reporter.

It was a six-page handwritten letter to Saxton from Leanna
Cameron, begging him to not only deny the motion for Smock, but to
consider giving Smock more of a jail sentence. Leanna Cameron had
apparently planned to read it, or present it, to the judge at the
hearing.

In the letter, she asked the judge to give her some answers.

“A person’s life has been taken away so selfishly and you’re
allowing them to get away with more and more as these court
hearings continue. I just want to know, why?”