Debra Lafave

It’s “Be Kind To (Cute) Rapist Teachers Week” In Texas

/ Jack Marshall / 4 Comments

That’s former Houston-area middle school teacher Marka Bodine above. Isn’t she pretty? Much too pretty to have to be in an icky old jail. So despite the fact that she was convicted of grooming, harassing, raping and continuously sexually abusing a 13-year-old student until he was 16 years old and finally alerted authorities, Bodine was only sentenced to to 60 days in jail with 10 years of probation. Shades of the infamous 2005 case of Debra Lafave, another sick but comely teacher who raped one of her 14-year-old students! Her lawyer successfully convinced the judge that their client was “too pretty for prison,” and honestly, who can argue with that? Here’s Debra:

As you can see, Marka isn’t quite the hottie that Debra was, so it’s only fair that she got some jail time. But wait! There’s more! Because Marka had given birth shortly before her sentencing (the baby was not her rape victim’s—Whew!— that would be the saga of teacher rapist Mary Kay LeTourneau), Harris County Judge Greg Glass postponed her imprisonment for a full year. Continue reading →

Ethics Hero: Judge Chet Tharpe

/ Jack Marshall / 34 Comments

Same crime, same county: Guess which sexual predator-teacher got the tougher sentence.

Same crime, same county: Guess which sexual predator-teacher got the tougher sentence.

Florida Circuit Judge Chet Tharpe sentenced former Hillsborough County teacher Ethel Anderson to a stunning 38 years in prison this week for performing oral sex and other sex acts on a 12-year-old boy she tutored on weekends. “There are those that believe that nothing’s wrong if the defendant is a woman and the victim is a male,” Tharpe said as he sent the sexual predator to prison. “This court does not recognize gender. If it’s proven, as an adult, that you had sex with a child, you can expect to go to prison.”

This was an ringing and much needed message to send to a county, indeed to a country, that have often seemed confused about how to handle women who rape their underage students using the authority and trust they have as teachers. Especially in Hillsborough County, though, for it was here that ex-teacher Debra Lafave pleaded  guilty in 2005 to having sex with a 14-year-old boy,and was merely sentenced to house arrest by Judge Thorpe’s colleague Judge Wayne Timmerman. Why? Interesting question. LaFave’s lawyer famously argued that his movie star gorgeous client was too attractive to go to jail (recall the recent post here about defense attorneys appealing to bias), and it worked. Continue reading →

Incomprehensible Nevada Justice For A Sexual Predator

/ Jack Marshall / 51 Comments

Pop quiz: Can you guess the sentence for this criminal?

Hey! Let's show some compassion for these sexual predators, people!

Bethyl Shepherd, a 35-year old high school teacher,was

  • convicted of having various forms of sexual relations with seven of her male students. In addition…
  • The boys ranged were as young as 15.

She got 60 days in jail, with the rest suspended.

I detect in the country a progressive deterioration of rational attitudes toward official punishment, and this case is an unnerving example. The news story makes it clear that everyone, including prosecutors and the parents of the boys, wanted leniency for Shepherd, and no jail time. The judge rejected their misguided pleas, but just barely.

Why so little punishment? Well, this is Nevada, where the attitude toward dubious sexual relationships is uniquely tolerant. Nevertheless, Shepherd is a sexual predator who exploited the trust of students and their parents for her own sexual gratification. This was not one foolish teacher-student crush, as in other cases that have sent teachers like Mary Kay Le Tourneau into prison for long periods. It appears that much of the sympathy for Shepherd stemmed from defense testimony that she was bi-polar and that this affected her judgment (let’s see how far Jerry Sandusky gets with that strategy) and the fact that her life has spun out of control as a result of her arrest, as she has lost her job, her career, her husband, her children, and has had to sell her car. Continue reading →