Polniaczek033
03-22-2006, 09:55 PM
Charges against teacher dropped in sex abuse case
TAMPA (AP) — A former teacher sentenced to three years of house arrest for having sex with a 14-year-old student in one Florida county won't face charges in another.
Debra Lafave pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery. She says she is being treated for bipolar disorder.
By Tim Boyles, Getty Images
Prosecutors in Marion County decided to drop charges Tuesday after a judge rejected a plea deal that would have kept Debra Lafave out of prison. (Related video: More on Lafave Case (http://usatoday.feedroom.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=b41951238:10a24bf392f:-2dab&rf=null&st=1143078794750&mp=WMP&cpf=true&fr=032206_085315_41951238x10a24bf392fxw2daa&rdm=451536.0565223335))
Prosecutors, defense attorneys and the victim's mother urged the judge to accept the deal so the boy wouldn't have to testify. A psychiatrist who examined the teenager told the judge previously that the boy suffered extreme anxiety from the media coverage of the case. (On Deadline: More from the Victim's Mom (http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/03/mother_talks_ab.html))
Marion County Circuit Judge Hale Stancil, however, said the lack of prison time for Lafave under the plea deal "shocks the conscience of this court."
Explaining the decision to drop the charges, Assistant State Attorney Richard Ridgway, said: "The court may be willing to risk the well-being of the victims in this case in order to force it to trial. I am not."
Lafave's sentence in Hillsborough County, which includes seven years' probation, still stands.
Lafave, 25, pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery under a plea deal there. She was accused of having sex with the middle school student in a classroom and her home.
In Marion County, she was accused of having sex with the boy in a sport-utility vehicle.
Lafave said at a news conference that she was getting treatment for bipolar disorder.
"I have a lot of things in my past that have unfortunately become public," Lafave said.
"I pray with all my heart that the young man and his family will be able to move on with their lives," she said. "Again, I offer my deepest apologies."
Hillsborough County prosecutor Mike Sinacore has said that the victim's family had anticipated a trial, but that the media attention prompted the boy's mother to push for a plea deal.
"There is no one that wanted to see Debra Lafave serve jail time more than myself," the boy's mother wrote in an e-mail to the Ocala Star-Banner over the weekend. But she said the welfare of her son was more important.
SOURCE: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-21-teacher-sex_x.htm
TAMPA (AP) — A former teacher sentenced to three years of house arrest for having sex with a 14-year-old student in one Florida county won't face charges in another.
Debra Lafave pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery. She says she is being treated for bipolar disorder.
By Tim Boyles, Getty Images
Prosecutors in Marion County decided to drop charges Tuesday after a judge rejected a plea deal that would have kept Debra Lafave out of prison. (Related video: More on Lafave Case (http://usatoday.feedroom.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=b41951238:10a24bf392f:-2dab&rf=null&st=1143078794750&mp=WMP&cpf=true&fr=032206_085315_41951238x10a24bf392fxw2daa&rdm=451536.0565223335))
Prosecutors, defense attorneys and the victim's mother urged the judge to accept the deal so the boy wouldn't have to testify. A psychiatrist who examined the teenager told the judge previously that the boy suffered extreme anxiety from the media coverage of the case. (On Deadline: More from the Victim's Mom (http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/03/mother_talks_ab.html))
Marion County Circuit Judge Hale Stancil, however, said the lack of prison time for Lafave under the plea deal "shocks the conscience of this court."
Explaining the decision to drop the charges, Assistant State Attorney Richard Ridgway, said: "The court may be willing to risk the well-being of the victims in this case in order to force it to trial. I am not."
Lafave's sentence in Hillsborough County, which includes seven years' probation, still stands.
Lafave, 25, pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery under a plea deal there. She was accused of having sex with the middle school student in a classroom and her home.
In Marion County, she was accused of having sex with the boy in a sport-utility vehicle.
Lafave said at a news conference that she was getting treatment for bipolar disorder.
"I have a lot of things in my past that have unfortunately become public," Lafave said.
"I pray with all my heart that the young man and his family will be able to move on with their lives," she said. "Again, I offer my deepest apologies."
Hillsborough County prosecutor Mike Sinacore has said that the victim's family had anticipated a trial, but that the media attention prompted the boy's mother to push for a plea deal.
"There is no one that wanted to see Debra Lafave serve jail time more than myself," the boy's mother wrote in an e-mail to the Ocala Star-Banner over the weekend. But she said the welfare of her son was more important.
SOURCE: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-21-teacher-sex_x.htm