Nun asks mercy, not jail, for her attacker

Three years after a mugger’s shove broke five of her ribs, gashed her face, permanently disabled her right arm and left her unable to live on her own, a nun asked the court not to send her apologetic attacker to prison.

Sister Muriel Curran, 78, appeared in Baltimore County Circuit Court to speak of forgiveness and a second chance for Charles R. Dodson. The 22-year-old had pleaded guilty, sparing her from having to testify against him, according to an account in The Sun.

“There is possibility and hope ― I believe in it, it’s what I’m about ― in rehabilitation and a future,” Sister Curran said as Dodson and his family wept.

Leo Ryan, the Baltimore County prosecutor, said it was “the single most profound thing I have ever heard in a courtroom.” He and Dodson’s lawyer had asked for a sentence of three to eight years in prison.

Judge H. Patrick Stringer Jr. gave Dodson 10 years, with all but 4.5 suspended, followed by three years of probation.

Stringer said that while he agreed with Sister Curran about the value of rehabilitation, he also believed in punishment.