A former Putnam City High School Spanish teacher was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to sex with a student. Lisa M. Kays, 48, Yukon, pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including three counts of second degree rape and two counts of forcible oral sodomy.
Kays was accused of having sex with student who was a 17-year-old junior at the time. Prosecutors recommended a 15 year sentence with all but the first 8 years suspended.Her defense attorney argued that all of her sentence should be suspended because the consensual relationship would have been legal had Kays not been a teacher.
Kays herself pleaded for leniency, accepting blame and saying that she has already been punished for her actions by losing "everything [she] has worked for."
The age of consent in Oklahoma is 16; however, there are certain situations in which an individual aged 16 and older is not able to provide legal consent. Oklahoma's rape law is outlined in 21 O.S. § 1111. Sex between a student and a teacher is included as an example of rape:
A. Rape is an act of sexual intercourse involving vaginal or anal penetration accomplished with a male or female who is not the spouse of the perpetrator and who may be of the same or the opposite sex as the perpetrator under any of the following circumstances: . . .
8. Where the victim is at least sixteen (16) years of age and is less than twenty (20) years of age and is a student, or under the legal custody or supervision of any public or private elementary or secondary school, junior high or high school, or public vocational school, and engages in sexual intercourse with a person who is eighteen (18) years of age or older and is an employee of the same school system.
In other words, a 16-20 year old student who is legally able to consent to sex with almost anyone else cannot legally consent to sex with an employee of the same school system, even if that employee is not the student's teacher. The offense is charged as second degree rape, also commonly known as statutory rape.
Oklahoma County District Judge Ray C. Elliot was unswayed by Kays's plea for mercy, but neither did he levy the sentence recommended by prosecution. He sentenced the former teacher to 4 years in prison followed by 6 years of probation. Additionally, as a person convicted of second degree rape and forcible oral sodomy, Lisa Kays will be designated a Level 3 Sex Offender and required to register as an Oklahoma Sex Offender for life.
