An Arizona teacher was sentenced Friday to 20 years behind bars—the lightest possible punishment—for having sex with a 13-year-old student, the Arizona Republic reports. Brittany Zamora, 28, expressed remorse in the Maricopa County courtroom, but her attorney appeared to blame the boy in a news conference after the sentencing. "I can truly say that I have been unfairly treated by the state of Arizona," the attorney said in reading Zamora's statement. "It is shocking to me how others are so quick to judge after hearing accusations and only one side of the story." The statement also said the boy was a teenager, not a young child, and had "many behavioral issues." But courtroom evidence was damning.
Police said Zamora and the boy had sex several times and secretly touched each other when a video was shown in her sixth-grade class at Las Brisas Academy in Goodyear, Ariz. She may have also been priming other students for sexual relationships, per the Republic. In a plea deal, Zamora pleaded guilty to sexual conduct with a minor and other charges. But the judge considered Zamora's otherwise clean record and a psychological evaluation—which found she was depressed and anxious, not sexually drawn to children—in giving her the minimum sentence. Zamora will also have to register as a sex offender and stay on probation for life, which left the boy's mother unsatisfied: "She should never have children," she said. "She should never be close to children, even in her own family." (More sexual misconduct stories.)
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