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   An Imperial, Missouri woman could spend a year in prison for beating her son's alleged heroin dealer with a baseball bat.  

   It took a Jefferson County jury about two hours Tuesday night to find 54 year old Sherrie Gavan guilty of third-degree misdemeanor assault.  

   Gavan admits that in December 2011, she hit Josh Loyd with a bat after seeking him out to tell him to stay away from her son, Clayton.  Her attorney had argued "self-defense," saying Gavan had believed the teen was going to hit her with a brick.  

   Gavan says she just did what any parent would have done, especially a parent who knows what heroin does to their child. "It's like my husband said, there’s two ways out:  you stop or you die," she said.  "And I did not want to bury my son.  I could not bury my son."

   Gavin says even though she could go to prison, she'd do it again, because her son is alive, graduating high school with straight "A's" and getting ready for college.