EASTON, Pa. (AP) — A woman asked a judge to toss her $173.50 fine for throwing lettuce out of her car, but he ordered her to fork over the green.

Dawn Higgins, who was cited Oct. 18 while parked outside a Wal-Mart near Easton, appeared in Northampton County Common Pleas Court on Thursday.

Higgins has said she took her daughters and a friend to the store, and they stopped at a McDonald's along the way. She said she pulled into a parking space to finish her meal but decided not to eat the half-dozen or so leaves atop her salad.

After failing to appear before a district judge on Dec. 22, Higgins discovered that she had been convicted in absentia and owed the state $173.50. She appealed, arguing that lettuce is biodegradable.

President Judge Robert A. Freedberg on Thursday found Higgins guilty after listening to her attorney pepper a police officer with questions about lettuce.

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Higgins is mulling an appeal to state Superior Court "as a matter of principle," said her lawyer, Timothy Prendergast.

"Probably the most expensive McDonald's salad ever sold," he said.