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Ex-Teacher Gets Probation

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By TOM BRENNAN

tbrennan@tampatrib.com

Published: December 11, 2008

TAMPA - Former Middleton High School special education teacher Christina Lin Butler was placed on probation for five years Wednesday for having a felonious three-week sexual relationship with a 16-year-old ninth-grader.

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett also ordered Butler to continue to get mental health counseling as a condition of avoiding prison. She also was designated a sexual offender and must register as such for the rest of her life.

Padgett was swayed by testimony that Butler, 34, has a variety of mental problems including bipolar disorder and suffered a serious brain injury when beaten by her stepfather at age 13.

The judge also said the student might be as culpable as Butler.

"He was probably the more mature of the two participants and probably less vulnerable," Padgett said, adding that the student was "perhaps the instigator of these acts."

Butler, 34, pleaded guilty in October to a felony count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. She also pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and allowing an unlicensed driver to use her car. Padgett imposed no additional jail time for the misdemeanors.

Butler faced up to 30 years in prison. Assistant State Attorney Anthony Duran argued that jail time was warranted.

"This is an issue of trust," he said. "What she did violated the trust of the whole community."

Butler, her parents and her attorneys had no comment.

Public defender Maria Paulidis told Padgett that probation would not be out of line with sentences other Hillsborough County teachers have received for similar offenses.

Former Newsome High School girls soccer coach Ronald Eugene Lewis was placed on a year of house arrest and nine years of probation in November after pleading guilty to having unlawful sex with a 17-year-old student. Prosecutors agreed to probation after the victim told them she did not want to testify in a trial or pretrial preparation.

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at tbrennan@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7698.

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