For those following the Lafave sex scandal - Mom speaks:

[Coexist]

http://sptimes.com/2006/03/22/Hillsborough/Getting_back_to_normal.shtml

This article is not exploitive, in fact, it puts a lot in perspective.

<snip>
She said she had one thought during the frenzy over her son's sexual relationship with his teacher. Normal. She would protect her son through this, and somehow they would find their way back to normal.

<snip>
By the time the December 2005 trial date drew near, the boy had turned 16, grown to 6 feet tall and started high school, though he could pass for a college student. This could help the defense: The jury would see a young man, not a 14-year-old boy. He could look more like a willing participant than a victim.

The last straw was Court TV, expected to be at the trial. The boy's mom had seen enough of the courts-and-crime cable station to know that shows about the juiciest trials are broadcast again and again. Her son could go to college and they might still be showing the Lafave case. He could get married and they might still show it. "It would go on forever," she said.

<snip>
The plea agreement was carefully crafted. She would plead guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery and get three years of house arrest (even Martha Stewart struggled with that, the mom thought, and she had a mansion.) Then seven years of probation, during which she could not profit from her crimes - no movies, no book deals. She would be a registered sex offender who could not work with kids. And she had to apologize in court. Didn't matter if her lawyer wrote the words. The boy's mom wanted her to say them.

<snip>
Soon after the deal was sealed, she was at a Bucs game with her son when she ran into a prosecutor she had gotten to know. Then she saw Fitzgibbons, the defense lawyer, and they spoke a few minutes. There they were, she thought, all going on with their lives after Hurricane Lafave. And Debra Lafave could not go to a Bucs game.

"Anybody who thinks she got a cakewalk," the boy's mom said, "she didn't."

[displacedtexan]

1. As much as I hate what the teacher did...

I have to agree with the boy's mom.

I wouldn't want Nancy Grace stalking my child for years.

[bluedeminredstate]

4. That woman is awful.

She acts like she's a victim's advocate, but she's just a whore to the disgusting showcase when these things are dissected on TV. She's never seen a suspect or defendent who might be innocent, and I've always wondered how she's so damn sure everyone who is the focus of an investigation deserves execution before the facts are known. She's always the first in line at the feeding frenzies like Laci Peterson, The woman in Utah, Natalie Holloway, etc., etc.
Her money and fame come from other people's tragedies. She needs the Scott Petersons of the world. Gross.
:puke:

[papau]

2. Cable news never mentions the conviction under the prior plea still stands

Just that the latest criminal charges are being dropped.

Our US Media has to spin a crime case so as to make it more newsworthy - sad.

[MADem]

5. Their disappointment is palpable, mainly because the perpetrator

looks like a lingerie model. If she were a chunky, pockmarked, raggedy-headed creepy looking woman, they wouldn't be so distraught about the lack of opportunity to cover a trial.

This whole situation is like a fantasy porn film, scrubbed for daytime viewing. They are gonna milk it for all it is worth....

[soothsayer]

3. Shouldn't she have thought 'normalcy' instead of 'normal'?

Or are they saying that it's normal for her to have just one thought. Gawd I hate what passes for journalism these days.