Brianne Altice, the former Utah high school teacher who pleaded guilty in 2015 to having sex with three underage students, began to cry during her parole hearing on Tuesday after recounting the terrible decisions that got her into this mess in the first place.
The 37-year-old Altice was sentenced to 30 years in prison after previously admitting to three counts of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse. She has been given credit for time served since January 2015. That's important because a condition of her punishment is that she must serve at least two years before she can be considered for parole, with a parole board set to decide over the next 30 days if they'll set a release date or not.
On Tuesday, the mother of two took the blame for her indiscretion(s), telling the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, "This was no one's fault but my own."
However, she also blamed self-esteem issues. "I clearly lost sight of all my values and principles and was seeking inappropriate means to address my own issues," Altice said according to the Salt Lake Tribune. "Issues I'm very aware of now."
At the hearing Robert Yeates, the board's vice chairman, made a note of how she had sex with a 16-year-old student during school hours and also in a church parking lot. He also pointed out that she had sex with a 17-year-old boy at his home, and also had improper contact with another 17-year-old while she was out on bail for her previous two relationships. Altice told Yeates that, at the time, she doesn't believe that she grasped the severity of everything that she did.
She claims that she justified everything because the teens "said this and that and made me feel good about myself." She added that she now knows there was "no justification for it." Though they weren't in attendance, she also apologized to them. "I understand that this was my doing," Altice said. "This was no one else's fault but my own. This was not my ex-husband's fault, or the school's fault, or my students' fault."
Not surprisingly Altice's husband divorced her in 2013. Also not surprisingly he has custody of the couple's two kids.
All three teens previously testified that they had had sex with Altice. Two of them are currently suing her and the Davis School District, who they say were fully aware of the relationships but didn't fire her and protect them. One of the suits claims that it was a running joke throughout their school about, "Who is Ms. Altice sleeping with now."
Sentencing guidelines for her crimes suggest she should remain jailed until at least January 2020. However, that decision ultimately resides with the parole board.
In her argument of why she should return to civilized society, Altice told Yeates that she won't contact any of the victims, and will also never again be able to teach. After she's released she would live with her parents and be employed as an office assistant. She further stated that she's willing to undergo sex offender treatment.
Guess we, along with her, will learn in a month whether the board was convinced or not.
