Judge releases woman who threw shoe at Hillary Clinton

By Kimberly Pierceall, Associated Press

Published Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014 | 12:06 p.m.

Updated Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014 | 1:48 p.m.

A federal judge on Thursday ordered a Phoenix woman accused of throwing a shoe at Hillary Rodham Clinton in Las Vegas to live with her mother in Arizona while she awaits sentencing for trespassing.

Alison Michelle Ernst also was told not to have contact with any people or places protected by the Secret Service.

Ernst, 36, has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespassing. A judge previously dismissed a misdemeanor violence charge.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. set a Dec. 17 date for Ernst to be sentenced. The maximum penalty is one year in prison.

Ernst has been in custody since a soccer shoe was thrown in Clinton's direction on April 10 during a speech by the former U.S. secretary of state at Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas. The shoe missed the former first lady.

Foley said he has concerns about the behavior and mental state of Ernst and warned that her behavior in the next 60 days could affect her sentence.

Ernst was barred from traveling outside Arizona and Nevada and from possessing any dangerous weapons.

Federal prosecutor Kathryn Newman had asked that Ernst remain in custody, saying her behavior had escalated over time and included throwing a pill bottle over the White House fence, attempting to visit Iran to talk with that country's president and making threats on a flight to Qatar.

Ernst, visibly agitated, told the court through her attorney that those events were taken out of context.

Ernst was not pleased about being ordered to live with her estranged mother.

Federal public defender William Carrico had asked that she be sentenced for time already served and freed with no other supervision. Carrico said she had been a model prisoner and wanted to get on with her life.