Jessica Lawson (Saint Anthony Police Department).
An Idaho teacher who admittedly sexually assaulted a teenage boy will spend up to two decades behind bars after taking a plea deal.
In August, Jessica Lawson, 36, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery of a child. On Thursday, she was sentenced by Senior District Judge Stephen Dunn to between two and 20 years in prison — where she will have to attend sex offender treatment. Upon release, Lawson will have to register as a sex offender.
The plea agreement wipes out two charges of felony rape of a minor, as well as charges of felony delivery of a controlled substance and misdemeanor dispensing alcohol to a minor.
The since-condemned woman was arrested in November 2023 after a traffic stop where law enforcement found the victim behind the wheel of his abuser’s vehicle because she was too drunk to drive herself.
The compounded crimes were remarked upon by Idaho Deputy Attorney General Madison Allen during the sentencing hearing this week, according to a courtroom report by East Idaho News.
“Jessica Lawson, who was 36 years old at the time, had an unlawful sexual relationship with a 16-year-old minor male victim when she picked him up from his home secretly without his parents’ permission,” Allen said. “She took him to her house where the two began to drink alcohol and then they engaged in sex acts together.”
The defendant’s defense attorney also briefly spoke.
“She wishes to apologize to the victim,” Allen Browning said. “She has agreed and understands that she will be going to prison. She understands that in the interest of justice, that is appropriate.”
On Nov. 6, 2023, Lawson’s vehicle was pulled over because the taillights were out. The basic traffic stop soon took on much greater importance when police found the teenager driving and the intoxicated teacher in the passenger seat.
The teenage boy would go on to tell authorities that Lawson had given him marijuana that night while she drank alcohol. He said the woman picked him up from his parent’s house around 11 p.m., and then they returned to her home, where she drank, he smoked, and they had sex.
That same night, Lawson called the minor’s parents to tell them she had taken him to her house and given him alcohol, but she did not admit to giving him marijuana or having sex with him, East Idaho News previously reported.
After being arrested, she initially pleaded not guilty.
On Thursday, the former teacher apologized to the boy and his family.
“I alone am responsible for my actions, but I believe (a prior) relationship was the catalyst that set me down the path to where I am today,” Lawson said. “I want to apologize to the victim and his family for any pain that I have caused. I want to apologize to the community and anyone I’ve let down.”
During a victim impact statement, the boy’s father discussed the long road ahead for the family going forward — noting that he and his wife adopted the victim just days before the crime.
“It takes a village to raise a young man, especially a young man that has been in and out of foster care, that has never known what it’s like to have a mom and a dad,” the boy’s father said. “My son is going to take a long time to heal and he doesn’t even know the wounds that he has yet. He’s not going to understand those wounds until he’s a parent, and he’s sending his daughter or son … to the house of a parent that he trusts.”
Brandi Buchman contributed to this report.
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