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DEADLY WEAPONS

couple on the sidewalk. He passed close enough for Amy to feel the wind from the van as it tore off.

The deal was canceled. The district attorney stretched the law to slam Max with a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon—his hands. It was a questionable charge: Max's hands were no deadlier a weapon than anyone else's.

The prosecution offered him a new deal: nine months in jail, if Max would admit to choking Amy. He refused. After a three-day trial, and just an hour and a half of deliberation, the jury found him guilty. On May 13, 1991, Tim Spencer and some of the other Meridian High geeks sat in the courtroom and watched as Judge Deborah Bail sentenced their friend to five years in prison.