Jonathan Spivey, the 47-year old Charlottesville High chorus teacher who pleaded guilty in June to four charges of sexual misconduct with CHS students, will serve 21 months of a 20-year sentence, the rest of his time being suspended.
Wait, you say—only 21 months for having sex with underage students in the chorus room closet during school hours between 2000 and 2006? Aren’t Elisa Kelly and George Robinson currently serving 27 months in jail for serving alcohol at their son’s 16th birthday party?
Jonathan Spivey, former Charlottesville High chorus director, will serve 21 months in jail after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual misconduct.
|
What’s even stranger is that the sentence is cause for celebration in the prosecutor’s office. “That was a substantial sentence,” says Elizabeth Killeen, assistant Commonwealth’s attorney for Charlottesville. “The sentencing guidelines in the case only called for one day to three months. That’s not unusual when a person has no prior criminal record, and if I had 100 counts of this offence charged, [the guidelines] would always have [called] for that.” Killen points out that Spivey’s sentence is seven times the guidelines’ upper end.
In fact, sentencing guidelines for sex crimes involving children are usually lower than those involving adults. Guidelines are based on statistics gathered from cases around the state. And the sentences for cases involving children are usually lower statewide because the prosecution generally works hard for a plea deal in order to keep children off the witness stands.
In other words: A criminal is likely to get a higher sentence for raping an adult than for raping a child.
Prosecutors had charged Spivey with seven counts of sexual misconduct when he was arrested in November, but dropped three with the plea deal. Spivey, a married father of two, had originally come under investigation for similar reasons in 2001, but the investigation was dropped when Spivey’s alleged victim withdrew his accusation. In September 2006, police opened a new investigation after a CHS student complained that he had been sexually propositioned by Spivey and detained for almost two hours.
At the sentencing hearing, Spivey’s psychiatrist, David Walters, reportedly testified that Spivey had been sexually abused as a child by an older cousin. Following the hearing, Spivey was remanded to custody to begin serving his sentence.
C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.
