A municipal court judge in Painesville, Ohio offered two choices to a woman who pleaded guilty to assault with pepper spray: 30 days in jail or to have the victim spray her with the irritant. The woman chose the latter.
"I'll allow Mr. [Frantz] Rolles to have his vengeance and that is to give you a shot of pepper spray," said Judge Michael Cicconetti.
What Cicconetti didn't tell Diamond T. Gaston, 20, was that the spray used on her in court was a non-harmful saline substance, according to WOIO.
Judge Cicconetti said though the victim wanted to use real pepper spray, he said what counted was emotional punishment for the crime, not necessarily physical pain.
"He goes, 'I'd really like to use pepper spray,' and I said, 'No, no, we can't do that!" Cicconetti told WEWS.
Gaston will have to be on community control for four months and was sentenced to three days of community service.
"He's like 'Oh it's water,' and I'm like 'Oh OK, that's a relief,'" Gaston told WKYC.
Cicconetti has a history of unorthodox punishments. He once sentenced a drunk driver to view car crash victims at a local morgue, according to Fox 8.
On Thursday, in addition to Gaston's pepper spraying, Cicconetti offered a woman who pleaded guilty to theft -- after not paying a cab driver -- the opportunity to walk the 30-mile distance of her cab ride rather than spend 60 days in jail.
"I do whatever I think will prevent a person from coming back in the courts again," Cicconetti told WKYC. "Yeah it's a little different. It's a little unique, but maybe we just need that a little bit in the judicial system."