'I'm not a racist.' Former attorney sentenced for throwing parade beads at Hispanic child

Yahoo

21-07-2025

A former attorney convicted of misdemeanor battery for intentionally throwing parade beads at a child and hitting her in the face was sentenced to a year's probation with stipulations that she must abstain from alcohol and drugs without a prescription or go to jail for four months.
Kelly McGraw, 59, was adjudicated guilty and sentenced July 15.
Escambia County Judge Scott Ritchie sentenced McGraw to 120 days in jail, suspended, with 12 months' probation. The jail sentence is suspended upon successful completion of probation.
Conditions of her probation include no alcohol or drugs without a prescription, random breath and urine testing at the defendant's expense, substance abuse evaluation, and anger management counseling.
'I have struggled with this case because I really didn't know what I wanted to do with it until I heard everything today,' Ritchie said at McGraw's sentencing hearing.
McGraw, a former attorney who was previously disbarred for substance abuse issues, was convicted on June 12 of misdemeanor battery for intentionally throwing parade beads at the face of a child who was blowing a whistle given to her by law enforcement to celebrate the Grand Fiesta Parade last year.
Although McGraw denied the accusations, the victim and witnesses testified she deliberately hurled a heavy set of big parade beads at the child for continuing to blow the whistle after berating her to stop and telling the girl and her family they were b------ and to go back to their country due to them being a different ethnicity.
The girl's mother, Alexa Gonzales, spoke at McGraw's sentencing about the impact the incident had on her and her daughter.
Gonzales said she feels leery of public gatherings now and recently went to another parade but couldn't stay long due to anxiety.
She said both she and her daughter are much more aware of their surroundings when out in public.
'I wouldn't say she suffers,' Gonzales told the court. 'But she's definitely more wary of being in public, more aware of her surroundings. She mentions it a lot more, 'What, if this could happen? Or what would we do if someone else tried to hit me?' Things like that.'
Gonzales asked Ritchie to sentence McGraw to jail and "definitely" probation.
'I don't think that people can go around hitting people's children and think it's OK,' Gonzales said. 'I would never in my right mind think to do that, especially to a minor kid for no reason at all just because they were having fun.'
McGraw tells judge she's a 'nurturer not a batterer'
McGraw spoke to the judge about the incident prior to sentencing.
She continued to deny that she hit the child with the beads, but said if she did it 'was certainly not intentional by me at all.'
The day of the incident, McGraw said she was watching the parade in a 'VIP' section at Palafox and Government Streets when the 'Gonzales group' arrived later in the day behind the bleachers where she was sitting and began 'incessantly blowing kazoos.'
She said she repeatedly asked them to stop, but other witnesses began 'arguing and engaging' with her over taking the children to task for blowing the whistles at a parade.
She admitted she did swear, but not at any one person.
'I felt that I was being ganged up on and I did shout obscenities to the crowd,' McGraw said. 'It was extremely chaotic. Music was blaring, people were screaming, beads were flying. I never had any direct contact with Gonzalez.'
McGraw blamed two witnesses for 'orchestrating this entire scenario,' saying their testimony 'was created by hysteria and the power of suggestion' by one woman who was there.
She also blamed a man who gave his account to police about what happened, saying that he 'goaded' the mother and child into believing McGraw threw beads at the child and hit her in the face because the mother had stepped away at the time of the incident and the child couldn't say exactly where she was hit in the face and was uninjured.
"I believe (a male witness) told (Alexa Gonzales) that I said, 'Go back to your country,' and referencing me as a racist, which I'm not," McGraw said.
McGraw, a mother of five children, said she was a 'nurturer not a batterer,' and her husband, Jack Williams, also spoke to the court on her behalf saying she was a good mother.
'The thought that she had hurt someone at that parade disturbed her,' Williams said. 'It was not something in her nature. I can see her throwing beads back, but that's kind of the way the parade is done.'
McGraw's attorney mentioned that McGraw is known in the community due to her former position as an attorney.
Williams said the couple has received public support over the incident, but it has been hard on them and their family.
'This whole situation has been a nightmare,' McGraw said. 'Beyond embarrassing. I have never been in any physical altercation with anyone in my life until (a woman witness) accosted me that night. I will be 60 years old this year and have attended parades for most of my life and never had any issues of any kind again. I apologize to the Gonzalez family for any action of mine that affected them.'
Prior criminal history
The prosecution asked the court to sentence McGraw to 90 days in jail based on the battery incident and her prior criminal record.
In 2003, McGraw was arrested on charges of possession of cocaine and conspiracy to commit a felony in connection with Operation Sandshaker, a three-year investigation into suspected cocaine trafficking that resulted in the arrest of dozens of people, many prominent in the community.
She was offered pre-trial diversion, but the incident prompted the Florida Bar to file a complaint charging her with violation of their rules.
Disbarment: Gulf Breeze lawyer disbarred by Florida Supreme Court, plans to fight ruling
McGraw was disbarred in 2018 for not abiding by an order to remain free of alcohol and drugs, a decision she fought but it was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court.
In 2020, she was arrested twice over multiple incidents of shoplifting at different grocery stores, including for stealing hundreds of dollars of wine, according to arrest reports.
Although Gonzales wanted to see McGraw sent to jail, she hopes her own family can put this incident behind them.
'It's made me feel overwhelmed now in public gatherings,' Gonzales said. 'I have to take extra moments to be aware of my surroundings because I'm always worried about what could happen in certain circumstances.'
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Kelly McGraw sentenced to jail, probation for throwing beads at child
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