Teacher's sex charge draws interest from national media
Carrollton: Some say 18-year-olds shouldn't be included in law
09:21 PM CDT on Saturday, June 10, 2006
The minute Carrollton police Sgt. Pat Murphy heard about Amy McElhenney's arrest, the department spokesman knew the calls would start pouring in. "It's about what I expected for what this case is," he said. "I mean, that's just my opinion. You've got a teacher that was a beauty pageant contestant that is accused of having sex with a student." Ms. McElhenney, a first-year Hebron High School teacher who taught Spanish and coached cross-country, is accused of having a continuous sexual relationship at her apartment in The Colony with an 18-year-old student who attended the Carrollton school. The 25-year-old woman, who grew up in Rice in Navarro County and attended the University of Texas at Austin, competed in the 2002 Miss Texas pageant after she was crowned Miss Bexar County. Yet if things had gone state Rep. Helen Giddings' way, Ms. McElhenney would have never been arrested. She wouldn't be facing 20 years in prison. And she wouldn't have been thrust into a media storm that has people questioning the law under which she's charged as much the actions of which she's accused. News of Carrollton's first arrest under a three-year-old Texas law that criminalizes sex between educators and students was picked up by newspapers and broadcast outlets statewide. Sgt. Murphy has received phone calls from Good Morning America, Inside Edition and Court TV. Last week, Fox News' Bill O'Reilly featured the case on his show. It's the stuff of Internet pictorials and late-night, Cinemax-type movies," said Robert J. Thompson, a pop culture professor at Syracuse University in New York. "The whole student-teacher relationship is fraught with that kind of charge that makes this thing so deliciously soap operatic to people." Ms. McElhenney could not be reached for comment. Her attorney did not return a phone call seeking comment, and her mother did not respond to interview requests. A close friend described the woman as "a great person" but declined to comment further when reached by telephone. Lewisville school district officials also declined to talk about the case. Ms. McElhenney was placed on administrative leave in May after the allegations were made but had already indicated she would resign from the district to take another teaching job. She was arrested on the last day of the school year. School officials did say another Hebron High teacher was investigated last year, accused of having a sexual relationship with a student. An investigation found that no misconduct had happened and that the allegations were unsubstantiated. The officials declined to comment further. While Rep. Giddings, D-Dallas, doesn't think it's ever OK for teachers to sleep with students, the possibility that someone could be branded a felon for sleeping with a consenting, legal adult doesn't sit well with her. In 2003, she wrote the law that criminalizes sex between educators and students. But she intended it to include only students 17 and younger because she wanted to protect high school students not old enough to vote or serve in the military. "I feel differently about 17-year-olds than I do about 18-year-olds," she said. "I don't necessarily believe the penalty for the two should necessarily be the same." But once Ms. Giddings' bill made it to the floor of the House, the amendments began. Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, successfully proposed dropping the age limit, making it illegal for teachers to sleep with students of any age. He said that's because teachers hold a certain amount of power over students, who aren't in a position to consent even if they are old enough. "If they're a student I just think they're off bounds regardless of their age," he said. "I felt like if we didn't do that we just virtually made it open season on students that are 18 years old." And Rep. Talmadge Heflin, R-Houston, successfully proposed changing the offense to a second-degree felony, though Ms. Giddings had intended it to be a state jail felony. A state jail felony carries a maximum sentence of two years in state jail; a conviction on a second-degree felony could result in up to 20 years in prison. Mr. O'Reilly, the TV pundit, debated Ms. McElhenney's case Monday on his national program. He told viewers that while he doesn't think Ms. McElhenney should face jail time, the teacher-student relationship is a special one that deserves legal protection. His guest, famed defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman, said it's unfair to prosecute anyone for having sex with someone who is old enough to consent. "It's a little harsh, even for Texas law," Mr. Lichtman said when reached by telephone at his New York office last week. Mr. Lichtman said he doesn't think legislators who create such laws think things through – especially the possible punishments. "To kill somebody in New York, you can get 15 years," he said. "It [the Texas law] seems a little heavy handed, and it seems like a flavor-of-the-moment law." But Dallas lawyer Jim Moore doesn't think any jury will ever give a 20-year prison term to a teacher who has consensual sex with a student legally old enough to consent. Mr. Moore represents two Garland school district teachers who were accused of sleeping with students in 2005. One of his clients also faces indecency-with-a-child charges because the student was underage. But one, like Ms. McElhenney, is a woman who is accused of having sex with a teenager who was old enough to consent. "It's going to be real interesting to see what a jury thinks about this legislation," he said. E-mail bformby@dallasnews.com 
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