A defence lawyer's last-minute attempt to get a stay on his client's sentencing over a serious police pursuit has helped keep his client out of jail.
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Chirag Patel recently told Albury Local Court how he had just received information in an email that indicated Renee Pinkerton's mental health issues warranted further investigation.
Magistrate Tony Murray had just warned Pinkerton that she was almost certainly going to be locked up, but on hearing Mr Patel's submission allowed a further adjournment.
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That step by the Albury solicitor ultimately led on Wednesday to Pinkerton avoiding being returned to a prison cell, just months after she spent 29 days in a Victorian jail.
That spell in the Dame Phillis Frost Centre in Melbourne was related to the same crime wave in which her Albury matters occurred - from December to February.
Pinkerton did receive a jail term on Wednesday from magistrate Sally McLaughlin, but will serve the nine-month sentence in the community on an intensive corrections order.
Ms McLaughlin said this would not have been an option without the substantial steps Pinkerton took on her rehabilitation from illicit drug, alcohol and mental health issues.
"If it were not for that work, I would not be able to make that finding," she said.
The Wodonga woman, 22, was jailed for a police pursuit on February 12 during which she reached speeds of up to 160km/h in an 80km/h zone.
When her car was found later that same evening outside the Newmarket Hotel in East Albury, police recovered a serrated knife Pinkerton said she carried for her "protection".
She was fined $600 for possessing a knife in a public place and was also placed on a six-month community corrections order for being a car owner who failed to disclose the identity of a driver.
That related to an incident where she was in a car that reached speeds of up to 140km/h in an 80km/h stretch of the Riverina Highway early on December 27.
She later told police she was trying to get a 14-year-old missing girl "away from domestic violence".
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