A former Idaho teacher who had sex with a teenage boy and then let him drive her home while she was drunk has been convicted in court.
Jessica Lawson, 36, was sentenced Thursday to a minimum of two years and a maximum of 20 years for sexually abusing a minor aged 16 or 17.
According to Senior District Judge Stephen Dunn’s ruling, Arizona-born Lawson will be required to register as a sex offender and undergo treatment during her prison sentence and thereafter.
The former South Fremont High School teacher and mother is subject to a 20-year restraining order against the victim, who had only recently been adopted by his new parents when she took advantage of him.
Lawson’s vile crimes came to light on November 6 when police pulled over the victim during a traffic stop because the vehicle had no visible headlights.
Jessica Lawson (photo), 36, was sentenced on Thursday to a minimum of two years and a maximum of twenty years for sexually abusing a minor aged 16 or 17
Authorities discovered the car belonged to Lawson, who the boy said was allowed to drive because she was too drunk.
Court documents describe how the boy was also in possession of marijuana at the time.
Police took him home that evening before he spoke to his parents the next morning, who said he had grown up in foster care and that they had only adopted him a few days earlier.
The teen’s parents said Lawson picked the boy up at 11 p.m. on Nov. 6 and took him to her home in Saint Anthony, Idaho.
They added that the teacher raped the boy after they drank liquor and got high together.
Lawson initially pleaded not guilty to two charges of rape of a victim aged 16 or 17, delivery of a controlled substance and distributing alcohol to a minor.
But as part of a plea deal, she pleaded guilty in August to two counts of sexual assault of a minor in exchange for the attorney general’s office dropping all other charges.
It was wrapped up in another case in which Lawson was charged with a misdemeanor for allowing an unauthorized minor to drive.
Deputy Attorney General Madison Allen outlined the details of the case in court.
Lawson, 36, an Arizona native, taught at South Fremont High School from 2021 to 2023
The former South Fremont High School teacher (pictured) is subject to a 20-year restraining order against the victim, who was only recently adopted by his new parents.
“Jessica Lawson, who was 36 years old at the time, was engaged in an unlawful sexual relationship with a 16-year-old minor male victim when she secretly picked him up from his home without his parents’ consent,” she said.
‘She took him to her house where the two began drinking alcohol and then engaged in sexual acts together.’
Lawson apologized to the victim and his family after giving a self-pitying speech broadcast by Eastern Idaho Newsblaming a “toxic relationship” from fifteen years earlier for her crimes.
“I alone am responsible for my actions, but I believe a (previous) relationship was the catalyst that put me on the path to where I am today,” she told the courtroom.
“I would like to apologize to the victim and his family for the pain I have caused,” she added, sobbing. “I would like to apologize to the community and everyone I have let down.”
Judge Dunn rejected Lawson’s apology, telling her: ‘I understand you have been through some difficult times.
“There hasn’t been one of these cases where I haven’t had a woman in front of me, a defendant who, quite frankly, hasn’t told me a similar story about generally an abusive marriage and low self-esteem.”
The victim’s father complained about the harm Lawson had caused the vulnerable boy.
“It takes a village to raise a young man, especially a young man who has been in and out of foster care, who has never known what it’s like to have a mother and a father,” he said against the court.
‘It will take a long time for my son to heal, but he doesn’t even know what wounds he has yet.
“He won’t understand those wounds until he is a parent and sends his daughter or son … to the home of a parent he trusts.”
Jessica Lawson, a former Idaho teacher who had sex with a teenage boy and then let him drive home while she was drunk, has been convicted in court
The teenager’s mother also told the court that people in their local community had lashed out at her over the case.
“We brought (the victim) in because he needed someone, and he had no one,” she said.
“It was pretty quick that we realized this is a really great kid, and he’s great and he should be in our family.
“He has a lot of problems because he didn’t have a father and mother who taught him how to recognize safe people.”
“You took advantage of that,” she added, turning to Lawson.
Lawson’s lawyer Allen Browning told the court his client wanted to apologize to the victim.
He added that she understood her prison sentence was “in the interests of justice.”
The former South Fremont High School teacher (pictured) is subject to a 20-year restraining order against the victim, who was only recently adopted by his new parents.
