| Debra Lafave | |
| Birth Date: | 1980 8, mf=yes |
| Birth Name: | Debra Jean Beasley |
| Birth Place: | Riverview, Florida, U.S. |
| Other Names: | Debra Jean Williams (current married name) |
| Charge: | Lewd and lascivious battery |
| Conviction Penalty: | Three years house arrest, seven years probation (probation terminated September 22, 2011; reinstated by appellate court August 15, 2012; terminated after Florida Supreme Court ruling October 2014) |
| Conviction Status: | Released |
| Alma Mater: | University of South Florida |
| Occupation: | Former teacher |
| Spouse: |
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| Children: | 2 |
Debra Jean Williams (née Beasley; born August 28, 1980),[1] better known under her former married name of Debra Lafave, is a former teacher at Angelo L. Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida. In 2005, she pleaded guilty to lewd or lascivious battery against a teenager. The charges stemmed from a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old student in mid-2004. Lafave's plea bargain included no prison time, opting for three years of house arrest due to safety concerns, seven years of probation, and lifetime registration as a sex offender.
Lafave attended East Bay High School until 1996. From 1995 to 1996, Lafave dated Nick Carter. She graduated from Bloomingdale High School in 1998 and attended the University of South Florida,[2] [3] [4] graduating with a degree in English.[5] [6] [7] After college graduation, she was hired as an English teacher at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida. In 2003, following her first year of teaching, she married Owen Lafave.[5]
Lafave committed statutory rape on a student on four occasions:[8] once in her house, once in her classroom, and multiple times in her car.[9] In May 2004, the boy, 14 at the time, and Lafave went to see his cousin in Ocala. His aunt was alarmed at seeing him in the company of a provocatively dressed woman, and alerted his mother. Under intense questioning from his mother, the boy admitted that the woman was Lafave. Officers in Temple Terrace recorded conversations between Lafave and the boy, then arrested her at their next meeting. Two separate sets of charges were filed, because the alleged incidents occurred in both Riverview, in Hillsborough County, and Ocala, in Marion County.[10] A trial date was set after the prosecution and defense could not agree on a plea bargain that involved prison time. Lafave faced a sentence of 5 to 15 years for each of the two counts of which she was accused.[11]
Shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin, Lafave pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years of community control (house arrest) and seven years of sex offender probation. Prosecutors defended the deal, saying that sex offender probation in Florida is quite difficult to complete; Lafave could have gone to jail if she violated any of the probation terms.[10]
Lafave's guilty plea effectively ended her teaching career. As part of her plea deal, she was required to surrender her teaching license and was banned from ever teaching in Florida again.[10] Under the terms of her probation, she had to be home by 10 p.m. every day, could not leave Hillsborough County without a judge's permission, and could not be around minors. She also had to register as a sex offender.[10] There was widespread skepticism as to whether a man guilty of lewd or lascivious battery would have received equally mild punishment.[12]
On December 8, 2005, Marion County Circuit Judge Hale Stancil rejected the plea deal, claiming that any agreement that did not require Lafave to serve some prison time "would undermine the credibility of this court, and the criminal justice system as a whole, and would erode public confidence in our schools." He set a trial date for April 10, 2006. The Marion County state's attorney subsequently dropped the charges.[13] In a statement, the prosecutors cited an assessment by psychologist Martin Lazoritz that found the victim would be so severely traumatized by a potential trial that it would take as long as eight years for him to recover.[14]
Lafave's lawyer John Fitzgibbons stated, "To place Debbie into a Florida state women's penitentiary, to place an attractive young woman in that kind of hellhole, is like putting a piece of raw meat in with the lions." Suzanne Goldenberg of The Guardian asserted that Lafave avoided jail time due to a faulty belief among Americans that she was "too pretty for prison".[15] Ariel Levy, writing in New York, called Fitzgibbons's statement "notorious",[16] and Lafave's ex-husband criticized it.[17] Commentators have claimed that the attention given to this particular case arose from Lafave's physical appearance.[15] [16] [18] [19] Provocative modeling photographs of Lafave have circulated on the Internet since she first gained notoriety.[20]
The Temple Terrace Police Department came under scrutiny for taking graphic nude photos of Lafave while Lafave was in stirrups in a jail cell. John Gillespie, the lead detective who requested the nude photos of Lafave, was arrested before the trial in an unrelated prostitution sting.[21]
Lafave was arrested on December 4, 2007, for violating her probation by speaking with a 17-year-old restaurant co-worker.[22] [23] The court ruled, however, that the violation was neither willful nor substantial, and it did not revoke her probation.[24]
Lafave later attributed her criminal actions to bipolar disorder, which is associated with intense and irregular mood swings, and with hypersexuality and poor judgement during manic episodes. She was also treated for bipolar disorder after allegedly being raped at age 13 by a classmate.[19] [25] At the time of her arrest her sister had also recently been killed by a drunk driver.[3]
In July 2008, within the terms of her plea deal, Lafave petitioned to convert the remainder of her house arrest to probation, having satisfied other terms such as sex offender therapy and community service. Her petition was granted and her house arrest ended four months early.[26] On October 29, 2009, Lafave was cleared to have unsupervised contact with some children.[27] On September 22, 2011, Lafave moved to end her probation four years early, based upon having completed all other obligations.[28] [29] Her petition was granted and her probation ended that day. The victim's family stated that they would appeal the decision.[30] The early termination of probation was reversed by the 2nd District Court of Appeals on August 15, 2012.[31]
Lafave asked the Florida Supreme Court to reinstate her release from probation.[32] On January 24, 2013, Lafave was ordered to continue her probation while the Florida Supreme Court waited to hear the case.[33] In October 2014, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lafave.[34]
The novel Tampa, by Alissa Nutting, was inspired by the case of Debra Lafave.[35]