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No jail for mom with kids in car trunk
Judge orders 18 months probation

FREDERICK, Maryland (CNN) -- A judge threw out a reckless endangerment conviction Thursday against a woman who drove with three children in the trunk of her car.

Instead of handing down the suspended sentence prosecutors requested, Judge Milnor Roberts ordered Lanora Adele Lucas to serve 18 months of supervised probation.

As part of the sentence, the judge struck down her November 21 conviction.

Lucas has been attending parenting classes, defense attorney Alan Winik told the judge, and has made "substantial efforts to learn parenting skills."

"Children don't come with a guide, and we make mistakes," Winik said.

A video captured by the dashboard camera of a police car on June 4 showed Lucas opening her car trunk after being stopped by police. Three children -- two of hers and one friend -- crawled out and got into the back seat of her car.

"Why would you let the kids ride in the trunk?" the officer was heard asking Lucas.

She said the children wanted to get in the trunk and had crawled through a back seat access to get in it.

An off-duty Maryland State trooper had seen the children crawl out of the trunk in the parking lot of a convenience store and enter the shop. When they came back out, they climbed back into the trunk.

The off-duty trooper alerted local police, who stopped the car.

Prosecutors cited the testimony of the police officer, who overheard Lucas tell the children to remain hidden in the trunk as he approached the car, and said that the public is outraged that the former school bus driver is trying to minimize what she did.

Winik said his client drove a school bus from 1993-2001 and had no violations.

The prosecution said it did not recommend jail time for Lucas but it objected to the order of probation before judgment. Lawyers said they wanted an appropriate sentence to ensure the woman continued with counseling.