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Boy takes stand in teacher's rape trial
The Seattle Times ^ | June 13, 2002 | Janet Burkitt and Diane Brooks

Posted on 06/13/2002 10:00:23 AM PDT by tdadams

Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 12:01 a.m.
Boy takes stand in teacher's rape trial

By Janet Burkitt and Diane Brooks
Times Snohomish County reporters

Susan Lemery
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EVERETT — The relationship described yesterday in court sounded in many ways like a stereotypical extramarital affair: There were furtive touches, trysts at odd hours and in strange places, and even a close call with a spouse.

But at the end of this relationship, 38-year-old Susan Lemery was behind bars, and a teenage boy was left to face the curious looks of his eighth-grade classmates in the hallways at school.

"I was worried I was going to get questioned by everyone about it," the now-15-year-old boy said, recalling his emotions after telling authorities last year that he'd had sex with Lemery. "I really didn't want to talk about it."

Yesterday, the boy spoke into a microphone, often reddening or smiling with apparent embarrassment, as he described intimate aspects of his alleged relationship with Lemery, the mother of one of his good friends, in front of a roomful of spectators in Snohomish County Superior Court.

The second-grade schoolteacher is charged with three counts of third-degree child rape and two counts of third-degree child molestation for allegedly having sex and sexual contact with the boy at her Marysville home in March and April 2001, when he was 14. She is also charged with one count of third-degree child molestation for allegedly fondling another 14-year-old friend of her son in October 2000. Neither boy was a student of hers.

Lemery has been on paid administrative leave with the Mukilteo School District since last June, after the allegations emerged.

The boy who prosecutors say she had sex with testified yesterday that the first two times they had sexual contact, they were on a couch in the Lemery family room, where other teenagers were sleeping after a party at the house. He said they groped each other briefly both times.

But during another teen gathering at the house less than a month later, the boy said, the two of them went upstairs and had sex in the bedroom of one of Lemery's young daughters. Lemery moved her sleeping daughter into the bedroom of another daughter so Lemery and the boy could use the room, he said.

They were still lying in bed when her husband, Dan Lemery, came out of the master bedroom and yelled her name, the boy testified. He said Susan Lemery was so scared she leapt out of bed and hid in the closet, while he pretended to be asleep.

The next morning, Lemery's 14-year-old son and her husband left on a hunting trip. The boy testified that he and Lemery had sex two more times over the next few days in the master bedroom of Lemery's home. But by the week's end, he said, it was over.

"She called my house and said, 'Dan found out about you,' " he testified. He said she sounded scared and said her husband had hired a private detective and had photos of them.

A comforter from the master bedroom hung in the courtroom as the boy testified. An expert for the prosecution had told jurors earlier in the trial that DNA found on the comforter matched the teen's to a virtual certainty and that some of Lemery's cells also found on the comforter were consistent with sexual intercourse having occurred.

Lemery's lawyer, David Allen, yesterday questioned the boy about conflicting statements he had made in interviews during the past year. He testified that the first time they had sex, nobody was in Lemery's son's bedroom, right next door, but in an earlier interview with Allen, the boy said he thought people were sleeping in that room.

He told a Snohomish County sheriff's deputy that he was crying to Lemery just before one of their encounters but said on the stand yesterday that he made that up because he didn't want Lemery or himself to get in trouble.

Allen questioned the boy about an e-mail he sent to Lemery sometime after the two allegedly had sex, in which he said he loved her and referred to her as being like "a second mother" to him. The boy agreed with Allen that that is not how someone would typically describe a relationship that included sex.

Janet Burkitt can be reached at 206- 515-5689 or jburkitt@seattletimes.com. Diane Brooks can be reached at 206-464-2567 or dbrooks@seattletimes.com.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: pedophilia; teacherrape; teacherstudentsex
What on earth is going on in the world??? Teenage boys are being targeted by sexual predators both at school and at church. This is a national shame. We're going to have some serious repercussions from all this in about 10 years or so. This is crazy. Have all these perpetrators lost their minds?
1 posted on 06/13/2002 10:00:24 AM PDT by tdadams
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To: tdadams
I guess those 38-year-old gals just can't resist the allure of those 15-year-old guys whose recharge time is measured in milliseconds...

Michael

2 posted on 06/13/2002 10:21:56 AM PDT by Wright is right!
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To: tdadams
This is terrible! What has happened to our countries morals? They have been gone for years...and this just exemplifies the statement directly. It is insane
3 posted on 06/13/2002 10:22:28 AM PDT by MASShole fever
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To: tdadams
What is really unfortunate is that female pedophiles rarely get the same strict sentences and judgements as male pedophiles. There was a case here in Sacramento several years ago where an 18 year old male foster child came forward and accused his foster mother of having sex with him for several years, something that understandably he believed messed him up emotionally. And I don't believe the foster mother recieved equal judgement as a male in the same situation would have recieved. If I remember right, I don't think she was ever prosecuted. So what kind of message did the law give the young boy. It doesn't matter that your trust in an adult was betrayed and you were taken advantage of sexually by an adult who was suppose to care for you --because it was a woman? Sexual abuse is sexual abuse. These women need to be locked up in jails the same as any male pedophile.
4 posted on 06/13/2002 10:39:54 AM PDT by Sally II
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To: tdadams
Does that photo look touched up? She'll never look 15.
5 posted on 06/13/2002 11:07:11 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: Sally II
I don't know. The offenses are not comparable.
6 posted on 06/13/2002 11:14:33 AM PDT by LarryLied
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To: tdadams
SOME body (read that some male) is just going to have to say it. If I had a 38 year old woman who looked like that interested in me when I was 14 I would have crawled through broken glass and barbed wire for her. Now I know that there are folks tha think that it is wrong for women to be treated differently from men when they have sex with underage teens of the opposite sex. However, I will point out that teenage boys cannot get pregnant.

Geez, I KNOW that I am going to get flamed for this post.

7 posted on 06/13/2002 11:18:00 AM PDT by Dogrobber
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To: Dogrobber
So, where was Susan Lemery when I was going through puberty?
8 posted on 06/13/2002 11:43:40 AM PDT by DinkyDau
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To: DinkyDau
HOT FOR TEACHER!!!!
9 posted on 06/13/2002 11:58:55 AM PDT by Delbert
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To: Delbert
lmao!
10 posted on 06/13/2002 12:23:08 PM PDT by devildogO341
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To: Wright is right!
However, the discharge time is also in milliseconds.
11 posted on 06/13/2002 12:35:36 PM PDT by justshutupandtakeit
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To: justshutupandtakeit
"However, the discharge time is also in milliseconds."

True, but after a couple-three cycles, the phase-locked loop stabilizes and the oscillator can function for quite a while. Eventually, with increased input, the stage will once again lose lock and become unstable. Re-establishing lock is usually successful by attenuating the input to normal levels.

All of this takes time. Very very enjoyable time.

Michael

12 posted on 06/13/2002 12:45:28 PM PDT by Wright is right!
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To: Delbert
So was I, at that age. Fortunately the teacher in question (female, and unquestionably of the order mammalia) wasn't an adulterous, pedophilic pervert.
13 posted on 06/13/2002 12:49:55 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard
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To: Dogrobber
However, I will point out that teenage boys cannot get pregnant.

Funny, that doesn't seem to matter if the assailant is also a male.

Statutory rape is statutory rape. Whether or not the victim invited it is irrelevant; the law says a child can't give consent.

14 posted on 06/13/2002 12:51:12 PM PDT by Campion
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To: Sally II
"What is really unfortunate is that female pedophiles rarely get the same strict sentences and judgements as male pedophiles."

First of all, she's not a pedophile. Pedos like pre-pubescents, and he's definitely not that. She's an ephebophile - an adult who is attracted to sexually-ripe but underage teens. Definite difference.

As for why the female perp gets less of a stigma - and thus less punishment - is that little matter of PENETRATION. If the perp is MALE, then the hapless victim is invaded, penetrated and left with a transfer of body fluids. If the perp is FEMALE, there is no invasion of the victim, no penetration of the victim (normally) and any exchange of body fluids is in the direction of the perp. It's pretty much that simple.

That and the fact that no matter how much juries may try to be even-handed, the fact remains that it's difficult for them to get too worked up over a so-called victim that does not get violated - in fact, a victim that dug the h*** out of the whole experience.

There's probably a lot more of this adult-female, minor-male coupling going on that we hear about - principally because such affairs usually only come to light when discovered or ended before both parties are willing to let go and one of them blabs. If no one finds out and no one blabs, a lot of these trysts can and probably do last for quite a while.

Michael

15 posted on 06/13/2002 12:55:12 PM PDT by Wright is right!
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To: tdadams
Well, there are two ways to look at this. At least the kid was getting some kind of an education. The other way, is that this teacher is a sexual predator.

This kind of thing happens in every trailer park, or mobile home community, school, college, it happens everywhere. The problem for the young person, is that their relationships after that one, will forever be affected. Rare is it for the better. I would know, I was one of those kids who hooked up with an older woman when I was 15. Huge mistake. Not only did it affect me for many years, but it destroyed a family, albeit a dysfunctional one. An experience like this affects not only the kids, but the families. This is a pervasive sickness. It's been going on for millenia, and will continue to go on so long as humans live on this planet. The only real way to combat this sort of thing, is to engrain in your children what is right and wrong. If you don't you will have failed them. I plan to homeschool any children my wife and I have, so I can instill values in them, rather than let some liberal moron try to indoctrinate them into a socialist program.

There are plenty of laws on the books. Enforcing those laws would be a deterrant. Sometimes the relationships are loving, but in all honesty, when you're a kid, you don't really know what true love is. When you become an adult, and realize the mistakes you've made, you have a lot of regrets, and guilt. It takes years to undo the damage, and the hardships created by an act of stupidity. This woman going to jail really isn't going to be deterred. She's just going to be let out, get another teaching job, and probably do it again somewhere else. Either that, or she'll go to teach college, where it isn't typically frowned upon.

This kid is going to be screwed up for the rest of his life. Of course, so will she.

16 posted on 06/13/2002 1:04:13 PM PDT by MadRobotArtist
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To: Sally II
What is really unfortunate is that female pedophiles rarely get the same strict sentences and judgements as male pedophiles.


There's a reason for that; teenage boys aren't the same as girls (shocking, I know). I must agree with the others who posted remarks about "hot for teacher," etc. When I was 14, I'd have jumped at the chance to jump a looker like her! Such "pedophiles" would have been a dream come true!
17 posted on 06/13/2002 3:30:41 PM PDT by jim35
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To: all

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18 posted on 06/13/2002 6:32:29 PM PDT by WIMom
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