XPost: school.teachers, sac.politics, alt.politics.socialism.democratic   
   XPost: alt.society.liberalism   
   From: losers@dnc.org   
      
   Former Goodyear teacher Brittany Zamora has been sentenced to 20   
   years in prison, the lowest possible sentence allowed for her   
   crime, after pleading guilty to molesting a 13-year-old student.   
      
   She will be on probation for the rest of her life and must   
   register as a sex offender. She will get credit for the 478 days   
   she's already served in prison.   
      
   "I am a good and genuine person who made a mistake and regret it   
   deeply," Zamora said in a Maricopa County Superior Court hearing   
   Friday morning. "I lived my life respecting and trying to obey   
   every law. I'm not a threat to society."   
      
   She apologized to the victims, their families and her own   
   family. She told Judge Sherry Stephens that her actions were out   
   of character and said she'd like to attend counseling. She said   
   she plans to earn a new degree in prison so she can embark on a   
   new career when she's released.   
      
   But outside the courtroom, Zamora in a statement read by her   
   attorney blamed the child she sexually abused, and painted   
   herself as the victim.   
      
   "This was not between a young child and Brittany — this was a   
   teenager," attorney Belen Olmeda Guerra said during a news   
   conference following the hearing.   
      
   'She used her position ... to molest a child'   
   The sentencing marked the end of the sensational case of 28-year-   
   old Zamora. The former Las Brisas Academy elementary teacher has   
   drawn international attention since she was arrested more than a   
   year ago for molesting one student and potentially grooming   
   another.   
      
   The details were salacious. Police reports recounted how she had   
   sex with the boy multiple times in her car and classroom — once   
   with an 11-year-old male student in the room. The two even   
   sexually touched each other while her sixth-grade class was in   
   session and the other students obliviously watched a video,   
   according to police reports.   
      
   The Zamora who sat before the judge was attentive, but appeared   
   almost stone-faced during the emotional hearing. The front of   
   her grown-out brown hair was weaved into a delicate braid. The   
   ends were still the blonde shade she favored in her former life.   
      
   A few tears ran down her face while several poignant statements   
   were made directly to her, and as her mother pleaded with the   
   judge to give her daughter the shortest sentence possible.   
      
   Her face began to twist as the parents of the victims told her   
   they hope she never gets to become a mother.   
      
   "Ms. Zamora lures these boys, earns their trust and then takes   
   advantage of them purely to fill her own sexual desires," the   
   mother of the boy Zamora asked to stand watch while she had sex   
   with another student said in court. "She used her position of   
   power to molest a child. She's a pedophile and no different than   
   if a man were sitting in her place right now."   
      
   Maricopa County Prosecutor Lacey Fisher said Zamora only stopped   
   because she was caught.   
      
   "If a (parent) hadn't discovered what was happening, there's   
   little doubt there would have been more victims in the   
   defendant's considerable wake," Fisher said.   
      
   Zamora pleaded guilty to sexual conduct with a minor, attempted   
   molestation of a minor and public sexual indecency in June as   
   part of a plea deal. She was previously charged with 15 felony   
   counts, including eight counts of sexual misconduct with a minor   
   and a slew of other charges.   
      
   Stephens considered a number of mitigating factors, including   
   Zamora's lack of criminal history and the fact that screenings   
   indicated she was unlikely to re-offend, before sentencing her   
   to the minimum term.   
      
   She said aggravating circumstances included the fact that Zamora   
   violated and abused her position of trust and tried to conceal   
   the crimes.   
      
   "I find the circumstances of the offenses to be especially   
   aggravating," Stephens said.   
      
   The maximum sentence would have been 44 years.   
      
   'Society should be protected from her'   
   Neither of the two victims were present in the courtroom Friday.   
   An attorney for the boy who was molested read a statement from   
   his mother.   
      
    "Before, he was an innocent child, and now she stole his   
   innocence from him," the victim impact statement submitted to   
   the court read. "I hate Brittany Zamora for what she did to my   
   son and family. We should not suffer for someone else's sick   
   pleasure, but we all are."   
      
   The parents of both boys had expressed concern that Zamora would   
   get a lighter sentence because she is a young and attractive   
   woman. The parents of the boy who was abused asked for the   
   maximum sentence.   
      
   "Now you'll spend the rest of your youth and most of your   
   adulthood in jail," the boy's father wrote in a statement his   
   attorney read in court to Zamora. "My son will grow up, have a   
   good life, get married and have children of his own. I will not   
   allow you to interfere in my son's life further. Good triumphs   
   over evil."   
      
   Zamora's 20-year sentence was what her attorneys and family   
   asked for. Her attorney highlighted Zamora's lack of criminal   
   record and a psycho-sexual evaluation that determined she had no   
   sexual interest in children, but suffered from anxiety and   
   depression.   
      
   Zamora's mother Darlene Irwin told the court she thought it was   
   actually the media and the public who were the monsters in this   
   case. She said media coverage made Zamora seem more predatory   
   than she was.   
      
   "Please understand this is not a monster. This is a beautiful   
   person with the kindest heart ever," Irwin said, mentioning that   
   Zamora had been prom queen.   
      
   Zamora will likely be in her late 40s when she would be released   
   from prison.   
      
   It's unlikely she could teach again. She already surrendered her   
   teaching certificate. To get a new certificate in Arizona, she   
   would have to submit to a criminal background check.   
      
   But, to the mother of the victim, that's not enough. She wrote   
   that Zamora's plea deal was too lenient.   
      
   "She should never have children," she said. "She should never be   
   close to children, even in her own family. ... As written,   
   Brittany Zamora will not even be 50 when she leaves prison. I   
   hold out few hopes that she will have truly reformed by then. I   
   think she suffers from a mental sickness that will never go   
   away. Society should be protected from her."   
      
   The mother wrote that her son has struggled in the year since   
   Zamora's arrest. His life was uprooted and he changed schools in   
   the months after. He's experienced difficulty sleeping and   
   headaches in addition to wandering thoughts, depressed feelings   
   and anxiety.   
      
   "I am emotionally devastated and sick at heart and devastated by   
   worry," the mother wrote. "I fear and mourn for my son, whose   
   childhood ended too soon."   
      
   The mother also requested Zamora be ordered to cover the cost of   
   her son's counseling fees.   
      
   Zamora lawyer shifts blame to victim in press conference   
   Guerra held a news conference shortly after the sentencing.   
   Zamora's mother and a family friend stood silently behind her.   
      
   She implied that the underage victim seduced Zamora and   
   emphasized the fact that he was a technically a teenager.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)