Catholic tutor facing decade or more in prison ..., by Joel Christie, Daily Mail (UK) (December 17, 2014)

Catholic tutor facing decade or more in prison for having sex with her 15-year-old student REJECTED plea deal that would have given her just a few months behind bars

A former Michigan high school tutor convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old male student is expected to be sentenced to at least a decade in prison after refusing to accept a plea deal and insisting her case go to trial.

Abigail Simon, 35, was last month found guilty on four of the five charges against her - three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of accosting a minor for immoral purposes - and will be sentenced in January, with a maximum penalty of life in prison.

However, according to MLive, Simon turned down numerous opportunities to receive a lighter sentence in order to try and fight to clear her name, and could have gotten off with a few months behind bars.

Between April 2013 and the beginning of a probable cause hearing for Simon in Grand Rapids District Court in August, the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office gave Simon the chance to plead guilty to second-degree criminal sexual conduct, which would have ended her expensive, lengthy and at-times humiliating trial.

The charge has a maximum sentence of 15 years but, in exchange for the plea, she would have been offered a one-year cap in Kent County Jail, which also offers time off for good behavior.

Then, after the probable cause hearing, she received another offer to plead guilty to accosting a child for immoral purposes and assault with intent to commit sexual penetration.

That plea had a minimum sentence of five months and a maximum of 23 months, but Simon again turned it down.

What followed was a three-week trial that came to a dramatic conclusion when Simon's guilty verdict was handed down last month.

A weeping Simon insisted she was the victim in her relationship with the 15-year-old boy and during one of her aggressive exchanges with Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Helen Brinkman even declared: 'I'll never forgive you!'

It was a scene so unusually emotional that even Judge Paul Sullivan was having trouble dealing with it. 'This thing is totally out of control.' the judge told his courtroom. 'I've tried to be patient but I'm beginning to lose it.'

'I want to go home,' Simon mouthed to her attorney at one point as she sat at the stand, the last witness in the two-week courtroom saga.

'Did you tell anybody he forced you or threatened you before you were caught?' Brinkman asked.

'No, I said that 1,000 times already,' Simon said.

'I'm not sitting up here lying like your client,' shouted at Brinkman at one point.

According to MLive.com, Brinkman accused Simon of 'mirroring' the boy’s victimization as a means of defending herself.

The dramatic interaction brought the trial to a memorable close on Monday, with the jury expect to begin deliberations sometime Tuesday.

Throughout the proceedings, lawyers for the 35-year-old former tutor are tried to convince a jury the teenager 'stalked, coerced and brutalized' the woman into sleeping with him.

The boy, who was 15 when he allegedly had a short but intense fling with Abigail Simon over spring in 2013, would undergo two days of cross-examination.

In that time he was pressed on the more than 1,000 text messages exchanged between himself and Simon as the defense attempted to show he was no victim.

However the prosecution used the same texts to depict Simon as a predator who went after an innocent virgin, according to M Live.

Simon was fired from her position as a tutor and study hall supervisor at Catholic Central and West Catholic high schools after the boy's mother found pictures of Simon in a garter belt on her son's phone.

Simon and the alleged victim referred to each other in pet names, the teen testified last week.

He said Simon called him 'boo' and he called his former tutor 'baby girl', according to Wood TV.

The teen - now 17 - said their relationship was consensual and that they both knew it was wrong.

One of the texts from Simon to the boy read: 'I’m scared that you’re only 15.'

The pair were allegedly together between February 1 and April 26 of last year.

Almost all of their encounters allegedly took place at Simon's apartment in the 300 block of Bridge Street North West in Grand Rapids.

Prosecutors read a text from Simon that she sent while on spring break in Florida, Wood TV reported.

Simon told the teen he should be with girls his age, saying: 'I’m just too old, as much as that stinks.'

However the victim refused, begging Simon in another text: 'Please give me one more chance.'

The teen started undergoing questioning on Monday November 17.

He denied that he slapped Simon before they started having sex with each other and laughed at suggestions he stalked Simon.

Simon is charged with first-degree sexual assault and accosting a minor for immoral purposes.