Posted on 07/13/2006 1:08:54 PM PDT by Rodney King
A story out of Texas about an ex-beauty contestant/teacher accused of sex with a male student is raising questions.
Amy McElhenney, 25, is a former Miss Texas contestant who was teaching at a Carrollton, Texas high school.
McElhenney was arrested May 25 and charged with having an improper relationship with a student. The Spanish teacher and former Miss Texas contestant faces up to 20 years in prison, if convicted.
McElhenney's arrest was for allegedly having sex with an 18-year-old student and it has raised questions about the age constraints of the state's three-year-old law criminalizing student-teacher sexual relationships.
But some lawmakers say the Hebron High School student's status as a legal adult should exempt McElhenney from the felony charge. State Rep. Helen Giddings, D-Dallas, wrote the Texas law in 2003 that criminalizes sex between educators and students.
But she said she wanted the law to apply only to students 17 and younger — uncomfortable with making sex between two legal, consenting adults a felony.
"I feel differently about 17-year-olds than I do about 18-year-olds," Giddings said. "I don't necessarily believe the penalty for the two should necessarily be the same."
But other legislators added amendments to Giddings' bill when it reached the floor of the House, making it illegal for educators to have sexual relationships with students of any age.
Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, proposed dropping the age limit, arguing that teachers wield a power over students that diminishes the pupils' ability to consent.
"If they're a student, I just think they're off bounds regardless of their age," Chisum said. "I felt like if we didn't do that, we just virtually made it open season on students that are 18 years old."
Neither McElhenney nor her attorney could immediately be reached for comment.
The woman's arrest attracted national media interest — which did not surprise Carrollton police Sgt. Pat Murphy, who cited the sensational elements of the case.
"It's about what I expected for what this case is," Murphy said of the media blitz. "You've got a teacher that was a beauty pageant contestant that is accused of having sex with a student."
But McElhenney's arrest also prompted debates around the nation concerning Texas' law and the criminality of student-teacher relationships when the pupil is a legal adult.
"It's a little harsh, even for Texas law," defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman told The Dallas Morning News. Lichtman discussed the case on a Fox news show.
He called the law "a little heavy handed, and it seems like a flavor-of-the-moment law."
Dallas lawyer Jim Moore said he felt the age issue would make jurors less likely to sentence a defendant to the 20-year prison term for an alleged relationship with a consenting adult. Moore represents a Garland school district teacher accused of having such a relationship in 2005.
"It's going to be real interesting to see what a jury thinks about this legislation," Moore said.
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Innocent!
naughty naughty ping
No high school teacher should ever have sex with a high school student. Age is irrelevant, to be quite frank, in my opinion.
I don't care what this teacher looks like, whether she's hot or ugly as a post. That's irrelevant, too.
High school teachers have no business having sex with high school students. Period.
...just doing the job that illegal aliens refuse to do. :-)
...and the 18 year old...
...no longer innocent...
Seems to me that an 18 year old is considered an adult.
Question 1: Can I enroll in her class?
Question 2: Can I get lots of homework?
Bush's Fault?
The great thing is that if you don't do it right, a teacher will make you do it, over and over and over.
This sort of thing would never happen if schoolteachers were allowed to marry/s
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... Innocent, till proven guilty!
dang. i swear my mom must've been trying to find the ugliest teacher school districts in America when i was growing up.
That's a Rodney Dangerfield line from "Back to School".
Either you forgot your sarc tag or you're out of touch with R E A L I T Y
He's 18. He can vote, drink and go to war. He can make his own decisions about who he wants to do homework with.
Bring to mind my Spanish teacher, who was from Spain, twenty three and built like a brick outhouse.
... and you'll have to do it again, and do it again, and do it again until you do it right.
In more ways than one...D'oh...
Absolutely Not Guilty. Yes, for all you moral absolutist ninnys out there...this is where an appropriate gender double standard should be...however age matters, if the kid were 12...it would be wrong.
Eh. Not *totally* innocent. Maybe a traffic ticket. Non-moving violation, y'know.
OK, seriously. I'm one who generally thinks teachers having sexual contact with students--regardless of sex--should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law (and yes, that includes the Debra LaFavres and Pamela Turners of the world). But if she's 25 and he's 18, there's no grounds for prosecution. She's an adult, he's an adult.
That having been said...should she be teaching? Hell no. She should be fired and her teaching credentials revoked. She didn't do anything legally wrong, but the school system can surely administratively discipline her for a breach of trust.
And I'm STILL wondering where the hot 25-year-old teachers were when I was in high screwl 25 years ago. In three years I had *one* reasonably good-looking teacher. And she sure wasn't a beauty-pageant contestant.
}:-)4
Hey don't you know that when women teachers have sex with their students, it's always about real love. With male teachers, it's always about lust and power. /sarcasm
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