(Tampa, Florida)
Almost a year ago, a retiring judge joked with Debra Lafave about the demands of her newborn twins, complimented her on completing her community control sentence, then released the ex-teacher from the probation she had promised to serve for having sex with a 14-year-old boy in 2004.Defense attorney John Fitzgibbons said he may take the case to the Florida Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that Circuit Judge Wayne Timmerman's last act of leniency before retirement was "an abuse of judicial power resulting in a gross miscarriage of justice."
The ruling means Lafave — whose platinum blond hair and blue eyes made her name a household word — will have to resume four remaining years of sex-offender probation.
Debra Lafave - The Enduring Story - Updated
[Previous 9/28/11 post]
(Tampa, Florida) Last week, Judge Wayne Timmerman granted Debra Lafave's request to be released from the remaining four years of her probation and, the following day, prosecutors asked for a stay on the decision while an appeal to the 2nd District Court of Appeals is crafted.
Assistant State Attorney Michael Sinacore said Lafave was contractually obligated to serve her entire probation since it was a provision in her original, signed plea deal.
However, today Judge Timmerman nixed the prosecution's argument, saying that ending probation early is common practice despite what was agreed to in the plea deal.
The judge did say he would grant the stay to file an appeal but not for the sole sake of keeping Lafave on probation.
Debra Lafave - The Enduring Story
[Previous 9/23/11 post]
Arguably the teacher-student sex story with the longest legs has been the adventures of Debra Lafave (aka Debra Beasley), who was initially arrested and charged more than seven years ago.
The blonde beauty had mixed it up with a 14-year-old boy in a variety of ways, ultimately being prosecuted in two different Florida counties.
In the end, she was sentenced to a hand slap, no jail, only three years house arrest and seven years probation in Hillsborough County Court.
The courts were understandably influenced by the massive public and media interest in the story.
To be fair, who could resist the tale of the bombshell 24-year-old teacher (pic), who claimed she was insane during sex and bipolar, having creative oral sessions with a 14-year-old male student in the back seat of a car as it was driven around central Florida through Hillsborough and Marion Counties by the student's cousin?
The furor died down in March 2006 when prosecutors dropped charges in Marion County against Lafave, leaving her with only the house arrest and probation terms imposed by the Hillsborough County Court. But that's not the end of the story.
In December 2007, having completed nearly two years on house arrest with good behavior, Lafave was arrested on a probation violation for engaging in intimate conversations with a 17-year-old coworker at Danny Boys' Restaurant. Apparently, the offense was dropped as being a minor isolated instance.
In April 2008, reports of Lafave's good behavior prompted Hillsborough County Court Judge J. Rogers Padgett to cut the remaining time that Lafave was to serve on house arrest from seven months to three and a half.
In October 2009, having completed her term of house arrest and a sex offender therapy program, Debra Lafave filed a motion to amend the terms of her probation to allow contact with "a limited number of children of family and friends" with their parents' permission.
In 2010, reports surfaced indicating that Debra Lafave would run for Congress and had become engaged to a Florida restaurant owner. Neither of the stories panned out. The reports do, however, seem to indicate that Lafave was being watched closely.
In the latest development, a judge yesterday (9/22/11) released Debra Lafave from her final four years of probation. Since she recently gave birth to twin boys and became engaged to be married, Lafave argued that also being on probation was too hard.
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