Woman Who Had Baby With 14-Year-Old Boy Gets Probation

The Global, October 11, 2006 

TOLEDO -- Dawn Fisher, the 33-year-old Swanton woman who gave birth to a 14-year-old boy's baby, was sentenced Tuesday to five years in community control -- with no jail time. Even Judge James Bates admitted there's a double standard when men and women commit the same crime.

The sentence has some angry, while others are scratching their heads. This is especially true of the mother of the boy involved in this case. She's furious, but one local attorney says while no jail time may seem unfair for the crime committed, it's not surprising.

After having sex with the boy who lived in her neighborhood, Fisher had a baby that was fathered by the boy. Tuesday she told the victim's family she was sorry for the pain she caused them, and she asked the court for leniency so she could raise her three kids. The youngest child, which is the one she had with the boy, is now 10 months old.

Judge Bates told Fisher, 

"If I had a male in front of me that would have had sex with a  14-year-old female, I think everybody in the courtroom would  know what I would do to that particular offender. They would  be going to a state institution for a very lengthy period of time."

Fisher could have received up to five years in prison. Instead, Judge Bates sentenced her to five years of supervised probation. But even he said it's almost a double standard.

The boy's mother, Nicole Roberts, said, 

"She's ruined his life, period. She's ruined his life and now  she's getting away with it." 

Roberts says her son has been through hell, and she can't understand why Fisher won't have to spend a single day behind bars. 

"The man would be put away the day the DNA came back,"  she said. "Why can't she?" 

Attorney Jerry Phillips told News 11, 

"It may be hard to explain, it may not be fair, but it is what it is." 

He says it has to do with our culture. 

"There is a cultural bias against putting women in jail," he said. 

He also said that in a sexual crime where the woman is the adult and  the male is the minor, women are less severely punished than when  the roles are reversed.