Crime, Trial and Conviction
In 1996 while Letourneau was a middle school teacher in Des Moines, Washington, her relationship with 13-year-old student Vili Fualaau transformed from friendship into flirtation and sex. Letourneau was arrested in March 1997 after her husband, Steve Letourneau, notified the police.
During the trial she was examined and diagnosed with manic depression. Letourneau pled guilty and was convicted of two counts of second-degree child rape. She was sentenced to six months in the county jail and three years of sex offender treatment. At that time she was not required to register as a sex offender. As part of her plea bargain, Letourneau agreed to avoid any further contact with Fualaau.
On February 3, 1998, police found Letourneau having sexual relations with Fualaau in her car. She was arrested for violating the terms of her probation and the police found $6,200 in cash, baby clothes, and her passport inside her car. As a result, Letourneau was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in state prison.
In October 1998, while serving her sentence, Letourneau gave birth to her second daughter by Fualaau. In January, 2001, Letourneau's father died, and she was denied a release from prison to attend his funeral. While in prison Letourneau tutored fellow inmates, created audio books for blind readers, participated in the prison choir and "rarely missed Mass." Because of her celebrity status Letourneau was unpopular with other inmates, "sassed guards and balked at work" and spent "18 of her first 24 months" in solitary confinement.
In 2002, Fualaau's family sued the Highline School District and the city of Des Moines, Washington, for emotional suffering, lost wages, and the costs of rearing his two children, claiming the school and the Des Moines Police Department had failed to protect him from Letourneau. During the ten week trial, defense attorneys Anne Bremner, representing the Des Moines Police Department, and Michael Patterson, representing the Highline School District, prevailed and no damages were awarded.
Letourneau was released on a community placement program on August 4, 2004 and the following day she registered with the King County Sheriff's Office as a Level 2 sex offender.
Read more about this topic: Mary Kay Letourneau
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