http://www.thenewstribune.com/topstories/v-printerfriendly/story/715185.html
Superior Court Judge D. Gary Steiner also found Rice, 33, guilty of raping the boy’s older brother and ruled one of her crimes was predatory, qualifying her for an extra-long prison sentence.
The former teacher faces more than 25 years in prison when sentenced June 5. Steiner ordered Rice, who’s been in jail since her arrest in summer 2007, remain there until sentencing.
Rice, the mother of young children, wiped at tears after Steiner made his rulings.
The convictions followed a brief “stipulated facts” trial. Prosecutors and Rice’s defense team agreed to a set of facts in the case, and Steiner reviewed them before making his decision. Rice agreed to the trial instead of a straight plea in order to preserve some of her appellate rights, said her attorney, Gary Clower.
The arrangement was, in essence, a guilty plea by Rice. She admitted she had sexual intercourse with both boys on separate occasions – the older brother was 15 at the time – and that she kidnapped and molested the younger boy, according to court records.
Steiner convicted Rice of four crimes: first-degree kidnapping, first-degree child molestation and two counts of third-degree rape. Steiner found the child-molestation crime was a predatory offense because the victim was one of Rice’s students.
That designation – required when a teacher is accused of certain sex crimes – invokes stiff sentencing requirements: a minimum term of 25 years or the high end of the standard sentencing range, whichever is longer. In Rice’s case, the high end is 26 years, according to previously filed court documents.
Prosecutors contended in court documents that Rice began a sexual relationship with the 10-year-old boy that lasted from December 2006 to August 2007, when she sneaked him out of his home and drove him to Ellensburg where they had sex at a rest stop before she returned him home.
Prosecutors also charged her with twice having sex with the boy’s older brother in July 2007.
Rice previously argued that the law that classifies some crimes as predatory is unconstitutional because it wrongly curtails the powers of the state’s prosecutors by restricting their discretion. Steiner rejected that argument in July 2008.
Clower indicated in court his client might want to renew that argument at the appellate level.
Prosecutors originally charged Rice with 13 crimes but agreed to drop all but four in exchange for her stipulating to the facts Steiner reviewed Monday.
The deal means the victims won’t have to testify in open court while guaranteeing Rice will get a long sentence, deputy prosecutor Mark Lindquist said.
The victims’ parents last month sued the Tacoma, Bethel and Yelm school districts, contending the districts negligently hired and supervised Rice and didn’t do enough to protect students from her. Rice also taught at the North Thurston School District.
The state has revoked her licenses to teach and serve as a counselor.
