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Man Arrested For Placing Flowers On His Fiancée’s Grave After Her Dad Complained It Was ‘Litter’
He has laid ten flower boxes since her passing.
Winston Winchester Hagans has been convicted in Auburn city for placing boxes full of flowers on the grave of his fiancée, whose father, Reverend Tom Ford, didn’t like the gifts nor approve of their relationship. Since May 2021, it’s alleged a total of ten boxes have been placed by Hagans, and Tom has either discarded them or sent them back.
Hagans’ GF Hannah had died in a wreck in January 2021, about a month after they got engaged.
And having had enough, Tom signed a warrant against Hagans, who has since been charged with criminal littering and ordered to pay $300. “The first box, when I saw where it was, I picked it up, and it fell apart. It was a rotten piece of wood with some pictures on it, so I discarded it,” Tom explained, insisting he disapproved of the relationship between his daughter and Hagans.
Sari Card, a City employee and cemetery administrative assistant, claimed she told Hagans that Tom didn’t want the boxes on the grave and planned legal actions.
“He said he didn’t care, that every time a box is removed, he would make another one to replace it,” Sara clarified. So far, the defense has argued the flower boxes aren’t littered, but Judge Jim McLaughlin has insisted the boxes were a clear violation of this deed and littering statute. Judge Jim added the box does not occur naturally in nature and that it’s a foreign substance; whether it’s pretty or not is not a consideration for the court.
Aside from a $50 fine and $251 in court costs, Hagans received a 30-day jail sentence, but It was suspended on the condition he won’t place more flowers on the grave.
The defense has said it would appeal the conviction to the circuit court, where a jury can hear the case. However, the city owns the cemetery where Hannah is buried, and municipal prosecutor Justin Clark has also shared that regulations prohibit benches, urns, boxes, shells, toys, and other similar articles on the grave. Besides, under Alabama law, citizens can obtain arrest warrants in municipal court under certain circumstances.
On the other hand, the Washington Post reported that Hannah’s career aspirations lay in state politics.
She had previously worked on Republican Roy Moore’s U.S. Senate campaign in 2017, which he lost to Democrat Doug Jones after being accused of having sexual contact with a woman when she was only 14 years old. According to Hagans’ website, he and Hannah Ford initially met at a coffee shop in Montgomery, just short of an hour’s drive from Auburn, and connected through their Baptist Faith.
