Cary Dad Gets Jail Time for Refusing House Arrest

A Cary man convicted of assaulting a Wake County school bus driver last spring was ordered Wednesday to spend a month in jail on top of the house arrest he was sentenced to earlier.

Posted 4:03 p.m. Feb 20, 2008 — Updated 11:59 p.m. Feb 20, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. — A Cary man convicted of assaulting a Wake County school bus driver last spring was ordered Wednesday to finish a month in jail on top of the house arrest he was sentenced to earlier.

Superior Court Judge Leon Stanback found Derry Aimo Schmidt in contempt of court for refusing to cooperate with probation officials on his house arrest.

Schmidt, 46, of 120 Frohlich Drive, was found guilty last month of assault on a female in connection with a May 23 incident outside Cary Elementary School.

Police said Schmidt drove into the school's bus-unloading zone to drop off his daughter after classes had started and became irate when his car was boxed in by school buses.

Schmidt testified during the three-day trial that he asked veteran bus driver Jametta Farrar to move her bus so he could leave, and he cursed at her and used a racial slur when she didn't move. Farrar and Schmidt provided conflicting accounts as to whether he drove his car into her during the confrontation.

Jurors acquitted Schmidt of committing a hate crime, assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a school employee.

Schmidt was sentenced to 75 days in jail, which was suspended to 25 days under house arrest. He also was ordered to undergo a mental examination and attend anger management classes.

When probation officers tried to set up the in-home monitoring of Schmidt, he refused and was placed in jail on Feb. 1 for violating the terms of his sentence.

After almost three weeks behind bars, Schmidt on Wednesday asked Stanback to allow him to serve his 75-day jail sentence instead of the house arrest.

"He has informed me he'd like to put this behind him – this entire situation. He feels like the best way for him to do that is to serve the active sentence," defense attorney Ryan Willis said.

Stanback refused, saying he wanted to make sure Schmidt complied with the mental exam and anger management class stipulations of the sentence. The judge ordered Schmidt to stay in jail for another 10 days to complete a 30-day sentence for contempt of court and then begin serving his house arrest.

Farrar said she was pleased with the judge's decision.

"This man has been trying from Day 1 to make me look like the bad one. He obviously needs the mental help that he deserves," Farrar said.

As he was led from the courtroom, a frustrated Schmidt said, "I have to get ... out of this state."

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