Nebraska Teacher Brandy Reynolds Gets Prison

(Fremont, Nebraska) In May 2007, an arrest warrant was issued for Brandy Reynolds, a 25-year-old former teacher at Omaha Baptist Academy, for engaging in a two-year sexual relationship with a male student starting when the boy was 15.

In June 2007, Reynolds was arrested and released on bond. In August, Reynolds pleaded no contest to reduced charges.

Today, Reynolds was sentenced.

Dodge County District Judge John Samson sentenced Brandy Reynolds to a minimum term of four years and a maximum of eight years in prison.

Judge Samson denied a request for leniency. Reynolds' attorney, Steve Lefler, said there are no plans to appeal.

After sentencing, Reynolds put her head on the wooden defense table and sobbed. More than a dozen friends and relatives, including Reynolds' husband, packed the courtroom to show support.

Abbi Andersen, a friend of Reynolds' who lives in Blair, said she believed that the only reason Reynolds received a prison sentence was because the judge did not know her.

Fortunately, there is no requirement in the law for the judge to "know" the defendant.

Notably, Judge Samson proved my speculation to be in error. Based on many recent cases, I predicted no jail or very little. Thankfully, Judge Samson didn't follow the the general trend in American jurisprudence to consider female sex offenders as not all that criminal. Reynolds' sentence is likely comparable to that which would be imposed on a male sex offender in the same jurisdiction.

Kudos to Judge Samson.