Florida Woman Who Coughed On a Cancer Patient Gets 30-Day Jail Time

A Florida woman was sentenced to 30 days in prison after she deliberately coughed on a cancer patient's face amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The interaction was caught in footage last year.

Debra Jo Hunter, 53, pleaded guilty on Monday to misdemeanor assault in the incident at the St. Johns Town Center in Jacksonville last Jun. 25.

After being charged with misdemeanor assault last year, Hunter was booked into the Duval County Jail but was released on the same day after posting bond, News4Jax reported.

Aside from her 30-day sentence, Hunter is also required to serve six months probation and undergo mental health evaluation and anger management, according to the communications director for the state attorney's office David Chapman.

Debra Jo Hunter was also mandated to cover the costs of the victim's COVID-19 test, according to an Associated Press report.

The Incident Involving the Florida Woman

Investigators said the victim, Heather Sprague, had started recording Hunter's heated argument with the store's employees as she tried to return an item that she did not bring.

Debra Jo Hunter saw her and made a rude gesture before walking up. She threatened Sprague that she would cough on her before doing so, according to an arrest document.

Sprague was being treated for a brain tumor. She told the judge that she spent several days anxiously searching for a place where she and her family could be tested after the incident.

Hunter's husband told the judge that their family had faced numerous hardships before the incident. This includes losing everything they had in a house fire.

"It was like air being inflated into a balloon, and it finally got to the point where she couldn't handle any more air," Hunter's husband said in a report as she defends his wife.

Debra Jo Hunter received backlash about the incident, citing harassing texts, emails, and letters, as well as social media posts targeting her and her family, according to a People report.

Hunter wrote that she received messages, such as ill wishes of her getting a COVID and her family.

"We no longer take family bike rides around the neighborhood. We no longer wave at neighbors passing by," the Florida woman said in a report.

Debra Jo Hunter noted that her letter was not a call for mercy or empathy, saying that the ordeal has incredibly humbled her.

Duval County court judge James Ruth said she was struck by the fact that Hunter's testimony focused less on how she harmed the victim and how her actions affected her own life.

Ruth said they have yet to see any expression of her regret about the effect it had on the victim, in this case, according to The Guardian report.

Sprague told the judge that she was worried about her health and the safety of her children. She was also concerned about how she could isolate and protect them in a household of 12 if she had been deliberately infected.

Sprague said she believed that Hunter should be held accountable for her actions, adding that's why she chose to report the incident.

Sprague filed a police report after she began feeling ill after the incident with Hunter.

WATCH: Nassau Woman Who Coughed in Face of Cancer Patient Gets 30 Days in Jail - From News4Jax