This is a case that I am posting mainly because of what the defense attorney had to say about the victim. Notice the teacher is 30, married with children and the victims teacher and later his babysitter and that the victim was 13. Her and her husband both blamed the victim and tried to claim the victim sexually assaulted her but that fell apart when she was on the stand:
A former Strickland Middle School teacher was sentenced to five years in prison Friday on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child in connection with a sexual relationship she had with a 13-year-old male student in 2007.
Lauren Cosgrove, 30, of Sanger, also was sentenced to two years in prison on a charge of tampering with a witness. Though she had been court-ordered not to contact the boy, he testified that she picked him up outside his house in December 2008 and convinced him to write a letter saying he lied about what happened between them.
On the stand, Lauren Cosgrove described herself as an overachiever. She taught English at Strickland, she said, and had been asked by school authorities to mentor the boy because he was brilliant but troubled.
She needed money, and when school was out for the summer, she agreed to the request made by the boy’s mother to baby-sit the three children, she said. Under Winfield’s questioning, Cosgrove said she has “boundary issues.” She did not set proper boundaries with the boy and allowed him to think it was OK to hug and kiss her, she said. She admitted to enjoying his attention.
She told the story of the day of the sex act much differently than the boy. In her version, the boy sexually assaulted her, she said.
But under cross-examination from Piel, Cosgrove admitted she did not tell the boy to stop.
“I didn’t want to bruise his ego,” she said.
Winfield told jurors that if given probation, Cosgrove would not be a risk, and that the boy enjoyed the attentions of an older woman and was not traumatized.
“It’s different with boys and girls,” she said. “I don’t believe he’s going to be scarred for life.” - Read the entire article here
I hope that some of the various organizations out there that assist rape victims will e-mail that attorney and set her straight.
Friday, May 29, 2009
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