Teacher who raped a student gets a break from prosecutor

If you thought the comment from Debra LaFave's lawyer added insult to the injury that the 25-year-old teacher visited upon her 14-year-old sexual victim, you should read the police report that details her predatory acts. Atty. John Fitzgibbons, in refusing last July to consider a plea bargain that would have included prison time, said incarceration would be too dangerous for someone as attractive as his client.
Is there any doubt that a lawyer making such a ridiculous comment on behalf of a male client convicted of two counts of lewd and lascivious battery of a 14-year girl would have been laughed out of the courtroom? Indeed, Fitzgibbons may have set precedent by putting forward his "she's too beautiful to serve time" defense. We trust the criminal justice system has better sense than to allow serious crimes such as statutory rape -- an adult having sex with a minor is a rapist -- to be demeaned by some slick lawyer.
Debra LaFave was a predator who targeted a young virgin -- he told police he had never had sexual intercourse -- and even made his 15-year cousin a witness to the trysts.
The police report shows that the teacher used her beauty, her feminine wiles and her position of authority to lure the boy into an affair that undoubtedly has left him emotionally scarred. Forgot his bravado and his boasting to his cousin and others about having sex with this older woman. At some point in his life, the incident will return to haunt him.
That is why the house arrest and the seven years' probation LaFave received as part of a plea agreement offered by Prosecutor Michael Sinacore in Tampa, Fla., must be harshly criticized. She deserved to spend time behind bars. Instead, she will be free to live her life -- and, predictably, write a book about her experiences which will then be made into a movie. At the very least, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Wayne Timmerman should have ordered that any profits derived from this predator's actions be placed in a special account to be used by the victim to pay for his mental health counseling. Such care will become necessary at some point in his life.
LaFave received a slap on the wrist and should not be permitted to benefit in any way from her despicable behavior.
Media scrutiny
The prosecutor says the young victim's family wanted to get the case over with because of the intense public and media scrutiny. But Sinacore could have persuaded the boy's mother, who went to the authorities after her son admitted to the affair, that the law would protect his identity and that such a trial was necessary to send a message to other teachers who might look upon students as easy prey. The details of LaFave's conniving, her sexual escapades with the young boy, and even her decision to make the 15-year-old cousin an accessory to the crime should have come out in trial.
The victim told investigators that the former Greco Middle School teacher complained to him that her marriage was in trouble and that she was aroused by the fact that having sex with him was not allowed. He said he and LaFave, a newly wed at the time, got to know each other on their way back from a class trip to Seaworld Orlando in May 2004.
He told investigators they had sex in a classroom at the school, located in Tampa Terrace, in her Riverview town house and once in a vehicle while the cousin drove them around Marion County.
Her lawyer, Fitzgibbons, says his client would have pleaded insanity at trial, claiming that emotional stress kept her from knowing right from wrong. But the police report shows that LaFave was well aware that what she was doing was wrong because she told her young victim that he was never to mention their sexual relationship to anyone.
Had she been convicted at trial, she could have faced 15 years in prison on each count.
Justice in this case has been denied.