MEMPHIS, TN-- A big Bluff City rally for Heather Ellis. She's the Missouri woman facing 15 years in prison for cutting in line at Walmart.
Ellis is charged with assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace. She claims she did nothing wrong and that she is actually the victim in this case.
Read Background Information About the IncidentSome people in Memphis agree and have vowed to fight on her behalf.
Ellis goes on trial this week in Kennett, Missouri- about a two hour drive north of Memphis.
“It's been a rollercoaster with a nightmare. It's been an ongoing saga” says Nathaniel Ellis, Heather’s father.
It’s been nearly three years since his daughter Heather went shopping at a Walmart in her hometown of Kennett, Missouri. What happened next is debatable.
Prosecutors say heather cut in line, and then when called out for it, she caused a major disturbance at the store.
Nathaniel Ellis says that's not true, and that his daughter was the one called racial slurs by a store clerk and officers.
“They just indict her and launch an all-out attack to destroy her character and assassinate her future” says Ellis. “This is her choice, not to admit fault in an area where she hasn't done anything and so we're standing by her.”
Hundreds of others are also standing by Heather.
On the social networking site Facebook, there are groups in support of her, and on Monday November 16th a rally is planned outside the Kennett Walmart.
“There's nothing that I could imagine that could've happened in the walls of that Walmart that justifies this young woman, this Pastor's daughter with no criminal record and on her way to medical school, going to prison for 15 minutes, let alone 15 years” says Dr. Boyce Watkins, a Professor at Syracuse University.
“We stand for justice. We stand for that which is right. That's why we are marching. That's why we are journeying to Kennett, Missouri for justice” says Dwight Montgomery, President of the Memphis chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Those wanting to attending Monday’s rally for Heather Ellis should meet up at the Civil Rights Museum. Buses and cars will leave by 7:00 am. The rally at the Kennett Walmart begins at eleven.
Ellis' family says they have been threatened by the Ku Klux Klan since speaking publicly about Heather's case. They've asked the U.S. Department of Justice to get involved.
