Joel Hurley, Debra LeFave, and the Double Standard
A 28 year old Fayetteville teaching assistant named Joel Hurley was arrested today and charged with numerous felony counts of criminal sexual conduct for having sex with a female student.
Here is a news article about it from WRAL.com.
Right now, the age of the student hasn't been released, but he was an assistant at a junior high school (6th-8th grade). It will be interesting to see how this case moves forward in wake of the Debra Lefave case, which I blogged about back in November, 2005.
You may remember, Debra LeFave was the hot 20-something teacher who was getting busy with her 13 year old male student. She ended up making a plea agreement that was so minimal, that the judge refused to allow it because he felt she needed far more punishment. The DA ended up dropping the case against her.
The double standard comes into play because many people - including myself - would say DAMN! Lucky kid! Nobody says that about a teenager girl in the same situation with an adult male teacher though.
Debra Lefave should've gotten serious time, but she didn't.
You can bet, if this guy is convicted, he'll get serious time.
We'll see.