Former Spokane Valley teacher gets no jail time for sex with student
Former Spokane Valley teacher gets no jail time for sex with student
A former Central Valley High school teacher’s “predatory actions” stripped a student of his dreams and significantly harmed him and his family after the teacher had sex with the 17-year-old, the student’s mother told a judge Thursday.
A former Central Valley High school teacher’s “predatory actions” stripped a student of his dreams and significantly harmed him and his family after the teacher had sex with the 17-year-old, the student’s mother told a judge Thursday.
McKenna Kindred, 25, will receive no jail time – recommended by the prosecution and defense – after she pleaded guilty Thursday to amended charges of second-degree sexual misconduct with a minor and communication with a minor for immoral purposes, both gross misdemeanors.
Spokane County Superior Court Judge Dean Chuang sentenced Kindred to two years of probation and $700 in fines and fees. She must register as a sex offender for 10 years.
Students came forward in December 2022 to describe the inappropriate relationship between Kindred and her teacher’s assistant.
The teen’s classmates told school officials he was inappropriately messaging Kindred via Instagram and that he was defensive when they questioned him about the relationship, according to court documents. Kindred also reported to administration she was being harassed by someone on social media, accusing her of a sexual relationship with a student that she denied.
The teen’s mother later told law enforcement her son had a sexual relationship with Kindred, that he’d been to her house alone with her and that the two had been sharing explicit photos over Instagram, court records say. Detectives did not find photographs “that appeared overtly sexual in nature,” documents say. There were messages referencing masturbation.
The teenager was interviewed at his home and admitted he’d begun messaging Kindred in June 2022. He told police he visited Kindred’s house and that they had sex. He also admitted to sharing explicit pictures and videos with Kindred, according to court records.
Central Valley School District said last year Kindred had resigned.
The student’s mother told Chuang that Kindred’s actions were an “abuse of power” and that she started to “groom” him when he was 16.
She said her son was unable to finish high school on campus, which affected him socially, emotionally and academically. He also lost some of his youth and missed out on major milestones.
The woman said her son played soccer since he was 18 months old, but Kindred’s criminal actions forced his plans to change.
“A light he used to carry has been dimmed,” she said.
The mother said she agreed to the attorneys’ sentencing recommendations, so the case did not drag out any longer.
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The word rape doesn't show up in that entire article. Must be some kind of mistake. I wonder why that would happen?
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Because that is not the name of the crime in Washington. It says sexual misconduct, which is the name of the crime.
https://app.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=504-26-221
Washington has a surprisingly modern discussion of consent in that law, but conspicuously missing is anything about abuse of a position of power, which is typically used in these exact cases (teacher-student, prison guard-inmate, police-detainee, etc.). Honestly if that's not part of the law in WA I'm not sure how they figure it's illegal under this law.
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I was going to say it's likely because the age of consent is 16 in Washington. It is but there are exceptions for being over 5 year difference in age (she's outside of the age range) and for a teacher and student.
https://codes.findlaw.com/wa/title-9a-washington-criminal-code/wa-rev-code-9a-44-093/
So this should definitely result in a class C felony.
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I wonder why that would happen?
Because this is an article about a specific case that didn't involve a charge of rape I imagine?
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An adult having sex with a minor is rape.
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The age of consent in Washington is 16.
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But a man teacher would get 20 years. Double standard bull shit.
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How is this world news? Seems pretty local.
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It's a recurring theme in the US school system. And it seems to be primarily female teachers going after boy students, which makes it noteworthy.
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With that logic a shitton of local news would be world news. This is at best US News but not world news.
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Is noone else gonna point out the absurdity that if the guy had been 1 year older, legally speaking there would've been nothing wrong?
The problem here is the grooming (which I think it's worth noting that adults can be victims of as well), the abuse of power dynamics, and particularly in this case the exploitation of another's inexperience for personal gratification.
But the article instead focuses on how the kid was "affected" by the teacher's "criminal actions", but then essentially just describes the kinds of consequences caused by the social stigma of student-teacher relationships. But this also happens in university, where it also carries negative social consequences, but not legal ones.
My point is simply that the legal system is a flimsy caricature of morality/ethics, and in articles like these it really shows.
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Teacher rapes student, avoids jail time.
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I know I wasn’t the only one wondering.
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If they were sharing pictures wouldn't that maker her eligible for CSAM resulting in further charges?
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While the boy admitted to sharing photos, it also said they didn’t find any so there may have been a lack of evidence for that.
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Crazy that someone can literally plead guilty and barely face any consequences.
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Wait. So did the 17 year old not want it or what is happening here?
Why are the comments here calling for rape or 20 years?
- Just to make absolutely clear: im not endorsing, neither talking down sex with minors
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In most US jurisdictions, an adult having unforced (for lack of a better word) sex with a minor is classified as "statutory rape" due to minors being legally incapable of consenting.
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The US needs to use AI for sentencing ranges, it seems just so extreme and there is two tiers of justice based.off the judge and location. There needs to be mandatory minimums for rape, no matter what. System is broke.
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There always needs to be a human making the calls. I never want the robots to make life and death decisions, and sentencing is just that. It definitely seems like they got this one wrong, but AI is not the answer.
The criminal justice system is completely fucked right now. There are multiple tiers of justice, and it is by no means blind. But large language models (we don’t have anything remotely like an AI that could do consistently what you want) are a warped and biased reflection of humanity, and would only intensify and perpetuate the systemic injustice.
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Mandatory minimums are a great way to ensure justice isn't done you ghoul.
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