NC Woman Gets Prison for Child Sex Crimes

(Winston-Salem, North Carolina) A 32-year-old local woman, Jacqueline Gray, was sentenced yesterday by Judge John Craig to four years in prison for sex crimes committed against an 11-year-old boy. The sentence resulted after Gray entered an Alford plea to reduced charges in accordance with a plea agreement.

According to prosecutor Pansy Glanton:

Gray entered an Alford plea, a type of plea in which a defendant does not admit guilt but agrees it is in her interest not to contest the charge.

She had been charged initially with first-degree child rape and first-degree sex offenses.

Glanton indicted Gray on lesser charges -- two counts felony child abuse by sex act and four counts of indecent liberties with a child -- after Gray agreed she would enter a plea.

Glanton said she did so to spare the victim from having to testify.

The boy had told investigators that Gray would come to his bedroom and touch him and that she had tried to have sex with him. The boy's grandmother indicated that the now-13-year-old continues to struggle with the trauma of abuse.

Apparently, Gray experiences mental-health issues. She suffers from severe depression and twice has attempted suicide. Gray's attorney, Mike Grace, argued that her mental problems indicate that she wasn't motivated to commit the crimes by lust and, therefore, she should be treated leniently. Personally, that logic escapes me.

In any event, maybe Gray will receive counseling for her non-lustful child sex proclivities while in prison.