Ben Grabacz/Daily Mining Gazette Avery Lawrence (right) sits besides her attorney, Joshua Makkonen as she was sentenced to 12 months probation and 15 days of community service for stealing 900 small American flags from the Young Americans for Freedom's 9/11 memorial at Michigan Tech.

HOUGHTON — A former Michigan Tech student has been sentenced in connection with an incident involving a 9/11 memorial on the MTU campus in September. 21-year old Avery Lawrence was sentenced to 12 months probation and 15 days of community service Friday morning in Houghton County 97th District Court. Lawrence pleaded guilty on Oct. 20 to stealing 900 American flags from the 9/11 memorial put up by the Young Americans for Freedom at Michigan Tech. Each flag placed on the lawn represented a victim of the terror attacks on Sept. 11.

Lawrence’s probation prohibits her from Michigan Tech property and from using alcohol and drugs including marijuana. She has already paid $417 in restitution to Michigan Tech, and has agreed to pay the remaining $165 of the total estimated restitution of $582. As part of the sentence, Lawrence was also required to write an essay on the appropriate reverences for victims of 9/11. The type of community service was not directed specifically though Judge Nicholas Daavettila said he thinks Prosecutor Daniel Helmer’s suggestion was appropriate.

“At the very least, if the court does not impose jail today, I’m asking the court to impose significant community service, and when it does so, community service perhaps to a veterans group or the veterans home, something that can help the defendant reflect on what she did that day and the pain she’s caused,” Helmer said.

Lawrence addressed the court at her sentencing. She said she took full responsibility for her actions. “I now understand how disrespectful and hurtful that was, not only to those who set up the memorial, but to everyone who remembers the lives lost that day and the community as a whole,” Lawrence read from her statement. “At the time, I was acting impulsively and wasn’t thinking about the actions, the impact my actions would have on the community. I wasn’t aware I was causing significant financial damage and it was thoughtless and immature.”

She further explained she took time to reflect on her actions and why the memorials like the 9/11 one are important to many people. Lawrence also offered an apology to the community, university and everyone hurt by what she did. She said she is committed to demonstrating she has learned from this.

Before Daavettila sentenced Lawrence, he asked her as to why she vandalized the memorial.

“It was reckless. I was tired. I was angry,” Lawrence answered. She continued that she was thinking more of the impacts the aftermath had on the country in terms of politics, privacy and war.

Helmer spoke before Lawerence’s statement saying he wondered what the reason why Lawrence did this to a 9/11 memorial, and the reason he came up with is in all likelihood the defendant was not alive and does not understand the emotions the tragedy brings to those that were.

“What I do know is that this incident is a great exemple of an ongoing problem that we’re seeing, not only here, but across our country,” Helmer said. “Which is, you have people who feel passionate, which is their right about an issue, or about issues or about politics, who can’t control that passion in a way that doesn’t infringe on the rights of others. We’ve seen it recently. We had an assault trial that started over a political disagreement just last month, and here we see today somebody defacing property because she disagreed with the group that put it up.”

Helmer added first amendment rights do not allow individuals to infringe on the rights of others, assault people or destroy others’ property. Defense Attorney Joshua Makkonen agreed with Helmer that to understand what motivated Lawrence, people have to understand she was not alive at the time.

“Miss Lawrence wasn’t alive, and so she doesn’t know how it felt during the two hours or so that the buildings were still standing and hadn’t collapsed,” Makkonen said. “The whole country was looking on through their CRT monitors, the fuzzy picture at the time was to be crystal clear, bringing into our living rooms, our schools, everything we had, the events, the terror of that day, the people who were dying in an instant, having their lives extinguished for the crime of going to work. So the horror of it really isn’t taught to kids as they’re growing up. They’re taught about it as a historical event, like unfortunately we teach about many historical events that precede our times. You get numbers, you get told what happened, and you don’t really fully appreciate it, especially when you’re young and still trying to find your way in life, and try to build your ideas, discover who you are as a person, and try to conduct your conduct accordingly.”

Makkonen said when you are 21 years old he believes people naturally have barriers they want to push, but it does not excuse doing so in a way that violates other people’s rights. He said Lawrence has learned and will continue to learn through punishments she has suffered and will continue to suffer through what happens in court and what will or what has been done administratively though Michigan Tech.

Daavettila echoed this in the sentencing. He said he gets emotional thinking about the Sept. 11 attacks and it is impossible to impress upon Lawrence what it meant for Americans.

“It’s one of those times in American history, world history, where everyone knows where they were when those planes hit tower and it was excruciating to watch,” Daavettila said. “I suspect that you and people that we have in court here today, young people, will have another one of those moments in their life where there’s a moment where everyone knows where they’re at and they’ll remember for their lives. Genuinely, it’s a tragedy, a national tragedy. I can’t fully appreciate what Pearl Harbor meant to Americans. I can’t fully appreciate what the assassination of John F Kennedy meant to Americans, nor can you appreciate what went on in America [on 9/11].”

Daavettila said he was 21 during the attacks, the same age as Lawrence. He said he made bad decisions during those days and suspects everyone who is his age or older does not have the same outlook on the way they behaved as a youngster.