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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A teacher and coach accused of having sex with a student at a suburban Salt Lake City high school was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months of probation, avoiding jail time.
Courtney Louise Jarrell, 23, was sentenced in a state court in West Jordan after pleading guilty to reduced charges of misdemeanor sexual battery in exchange for giving up her teaching license, court records show.
Prosecutors say she had an improper sexual relationship with a girl who was 17 years old and a student at Riverton High School. Jarrell taught math and coached basketball at the school at the time but later resigned.
Prosecutors did not ask the judge to give her any time behind bars, though they could have requested up to three years. Prosecutor Tyson Hamilton said he was impressed by the fact that Jarrell took responsibility for what happened, didn't minimize the events and apologized to the girl and her family, the Deseret News reports (http://bit.ly/1itCkv8).
Judge Bruce Lubeck said he struggled mightily with deciding on the punishment. He noted that nobody wanted jail time, but said, "You were a teacher and she was a student. It's been very troubling," the Deseret News reports.
In addition to the probation, he ordered her to do 100 hours of community service and pay a $900 fine.
Kenneth Brown, Jarrell's attorney, said she didn't use her position to influence the teen. He says the two fell in love and had a consensual relationship. Brown said Jarrell is a good person who has paid a heavy price for her error, being ostracized by her friends and robbed of a chance to teach and coach.
The girl testified that she had consensual sexual encounters with Jarrell at the teacher's house. She was at Monday's sentencing, but didn't speak, the Deseret News reports.
When the judge asked Jarrell why he should not send her to jail, a crying Jarrell said losing her hard-earned teaching license has punished her sufficiently.
"I'll never be in a school again," said Jarrell, the Deseret News reported. "I don't even know if I can go on field trips with my nieces' or nephews' or kids' schools and that's really hard for me. It was a big deal for me to lose that."
Jarrell, who cried and hugged her family after the hearing, is the latest Utah teacher to be charged with having inappropriate sexual relations with a student.
Stephen Niedzwiecki, 34, a former science teacher at Jefferson Academy in Kaysville, pleaded guilty to charges of having a relationship with a 16-year-old girl who was a former student. He's scheduled to be sentenced Friday.
Brianne Altice, 34, a former teacher at Davis High School in Kaysville, is awaiting trial on charges related to having a sexual relationship with a student half her age. She has pleaded not guilty.
After being on leave for several months, Altice was let go in February.
Donald Bills, 54, longtime science teacher at Provo High School, is charged with forcible sexual abuse, rape and forcible sodomy in connection with accusations that he had a relationship with a 17-year-old female student. Bills' attorney didn't immediately return a phone call, and a phone number listed for Bills is out of service.
Jarrell left her job at Riverton High School shortly after she was charged in April 2013. She had been with the district for less than one year.
She originally was charged with rape and forcible sexual abuse, but those charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal in which she acknowledged engaging in sexual acts with the teen three times between February and March 2013.
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