No jail for teacher charged with rape

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The former Albuquerque middle school teacher who had sex with her then student will not spend time behind bars but will instead be remanded to the Community Custody Program.

A district court judge handed down Kristy Sanchez Trujillo's sentence on Friday morning.

Sanchez Trujillo pleaded guilty to several counts including rape and child molestation, in April. That plea deal guaranteed a lighter sentence, but even the district attorney's office didn't expect Friday's result.

State prosecutor Nicholas Marshall asked that the former teacher be given the maximum on the plea deal, which was five years, for the for the 2009 rape of her then-13-year-old student.

The then-33-year-old married mother admitted she took the boy to the Petroglyphs National Monument and had sex with him on a couple occasions in her SUV.

"The fact that the parents entrust these people who care for them, this individual violated that trust and so it was our hope that she was going to serve a period of incarceration," Marshall said.

The judge handed down a 24-year sentence but dismissed all but 364 days. The former mid-school teacher will serve that one year at home on an ankle monitor.

It’s a much more lenient sentence than the one a different judge recently gave a former Albuquerque Public Schools teachers aide.

Anthony Kilby, 26, a former University of New Mexico football player, was sentenced to three years in prison for a rape charge. Kilby had sex with a 15-year-old girl at Manzano High School.

Still, on Friday the District Judge Reed Sheppard said Sanchez-Trujillo's gender did not influence his sentence

“What would happen if this was a male teacher and a female child,” Sheppard said. “I want to make it perfectly clear that it is completely unacceptable for any adult to have sex with a minor child.”

A child to whom Sanchez-Trujillo apologized in court.

“I would like to say to my victim that I am extremely and truly sorry and to his mother for all the pain and the hurt that they have suffered,” Sanchez-Trujillo said

The one year on CCP will be followed up with probation. Sanchez Trujillo will also have to register as a sex offender.