Judge Balks at Debra Lafave Plea Deal

(Ocala, Florida) Former middle school teacher Debra Lafave and her lawyer, John Fitzgibbons, listened attentively in Marion County Court yesterday as unsympathetic Judge Hale Stancil expressed his concerns regarding a plea deal negotiated between the defense and the prosecution. The plea agreement specified no jail time for a sex crime committed against a 14-year-old boy.

In addition to having questions about the criminal justice and education systems, Judge Stancil stated that he is seriously considering throwing out the plea agreement and sentencing Lafave in accordance with established guidelines, meaning 16.9 years in prison. Being undecided, Stancil postponed Lafave's sentencing for a week to ten days to allow himself more time to think about the case.

As a reminder, Lafave received no jail in adjacent Hillsborough County when she was sentenced for related crimes.

So, the soap opera continues as everyone waits to learn what Judge Stancil will decide.


[Update 03/21/06]

From Local6.com:

Orlando, Fla. -- State prosecutors decided Tuesday to drop charges against a former Tampa teacher accused of having sex with a 14-year-old middle school student.

The decision, announced hours after a judge rejected a plea deal for Debra Lafave, means the victim won't have to testify.

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 boy suffered extreme anxiety from the media coverage of the case and does not want to testify.

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," and he rejected it.

Assistant State Attorney Richard Ridgway, in explaining the decision to drop the charges, 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, 25, already faces three years of house arrest and seven years probation in Hillsborough County, where she was charged with having sex with the same boy in a classroom and her home. She pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery under a plea deal there.

Watching Lafave being interviewed afterward, I didn't see a woman who accepted responsibility for her crimes. Her contrition and atonement were watery.

It seems new precedents have been introduced into the American justice system. Hot babes can boff boys with impunity -- the Debra Lafave defense. And, there's also mitigation in cases where the defendant is "too pretty for prison."

All the while, male inmates throughout the nation, convicted of having sex with 14-year-old girls, sit in crowded cellblocks, scratching their heads, wondering what happened to equality under the law.

See also: Wizbang, Stop The ACLU, Jawa Report

Previous Posts:

12/09/05 - Debra Lafave Plea Deal Rejected

11/22/05 - Debra Lafave Gets No Jail

09/20/05 - Judge Blocks Lafave Photos

09/14/05 - Lawyer Wants Lafave Genitalia Photos Blocked

07/18/05 - Plea Negotiations Break Down in Debra Lafave Case

06/16/05 - Debra Lafave Offered Plea Deal

05/20/05 - Debra Lafave Pretrial Hearing

12/02/04 - Debra Lafave Was Crazy During Sex

08/04/04 - Debra Beasley Lafave Pleads Not Guilty to More Charges

06/29/04 - Teacher Arrested For Sex With Boy, 14

[Update 12/04/07]

Lafave arrested for violating probation conditions.

Tags: Lafave, John Fitzgibbons, Hale Stancil, teacher student sex