Report: Charges dropped in teacher sex case Decision in LaFave case comes after court ruling, sources tell WESH-TV
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Former middle school teacher Debra Lafave
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Updated: 1:09 p.m. ET March 21, 2006
OCALA, Fla. - Prosecutors are dropping the latest charges against Debra LaFave, the Florida school teacher accused of having sex with a 14-year-old student, WESH-TV, NBC's Orlando affiliate, reported Tuesday.
The decision came just hours after a judge in Marion County rejected a second plea deal in the case, saying “Quite frankly, if the allegations against the defendant are true, the agreed-upon sentence shocks the conscience of this court.”
Sources told WESH that prosecutors had planned for several weeks to drop the charges against LaFave, who earlier agreed to a plea deal in a second court in a case in which she lost her teacher's license and was sentenced to three years of house arrest.
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In the Marion County case, prosecutors promised the teen's mother that he would not have to testify. But because Circuit Judge Hale Stancil rejected the second plea deal, the only other option for prosecutors would have been a trial, which would force the boy to take the stand.
Stancil said the plea bargain would undermine the credibility of the criminal justice system and “erode public confidence in our schools.”
“Accepting the proposed plea agreement would likewise send the message that if enough publicity is generated, and the media's interest continues long enough, and because of that interest the victim does not wish to testify, a defendant can avoid an appropriate sentence,” he said.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys had urged the judge to accept the deal for the sake of the boy involved. A psychiatrist who examined the teenager told the judge at a previous hearing that the youth suffered extreme anxiety from the intense media coverage surrounding the case and does not want to testify.
Lafave, 25, was charged in two counties, accused in Marion County of having sex with the boy in a sport utility vehicle, and in Hillsborough County of having sex with him in a classroom and her home.
In Hillsborough County, she pleaded guilty on Nov. 22 to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery, and under a plea deal, the judge sentenced her to three years of house arrest and seven years’ probation.
In the Hillsborough case, the judge also said Lafave will forever lose her teaching certificate, must register with the state as a sexual predator, may not have any contact with children, including the victim. He also said she will not be allowed to profit from the sale of her story or personal appearances.
Lafave’s attorney, John Fitzgibbons, scheduled a news conference in Tampa later Tuesday to discuss the Marion County ruling.
Re: Female Teacher Receives 9 Months in Jail for Sex with Student -
2nd February 2006
