KENT, WA (Reuters) - A former elementary school teacher who bore the
child of her 14-year-old student avoided a long prison sentence Friday
when a judge ordered her into a treatment program for sex offenders.
King County Superior Court Judge Linda Lau ordered Mary K. L.,
35, to serve 180 days in the county jail but suspended an 89-month
prison sentence on condition that the former teacher complete a
three-year treatment program and follow other parole conditions.
With credit for time served, L. could be free in less than three
months.
A tearful L., wearing a light blue sweater and pleated black
skirt at the hearing in a jailhouse courtroom, apologized and begged for
mercy before her sentence.
"I did something that I had no right to do morally or legally," she
said. "It was wrong, and I am sorry. I give you my word that it will not
happen again."
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of between five and eight years, the
standard for child rape, arguing that L. was not amenable to
treatment.
But L. was supported at the hearing by the mother of her victim,
who is caring for their 6-month-old daughter.
"Mary's not a bad person," she said. "She's just a human being who made
a terrible mistake."
L. was a married mother of four and a popular teacher in the
Seattle suburb of Burien when she began an eight-month sexual
relationship last year, when the boy was 13. She has been jailed since
pleading guilty to two counts of child rape in August.
L. first met the boy when he was in her second-grade class and
remained a mentor figure over the years. The relationship turned sexual
after L. became a sixth-grade teacher and the boy was in her
class again.
The boy has denied he is a victim and has said he wants to marry his
former teacher.
L.'s husband has filed for divorce and moved with their four
children to Alaska.
