A September 2011 ruling letting Debra Lafave off probation was reversed by an appellate court Wednesday.
Lafave was under probation as part of her 2005 plea deal after she pleaded guilty to sleeping with a 14-year-old student in 2004. As part of the original deal, she accepted the stipulation she would serve the entire 10-year probation in exchange for going to prison for 30 years after she pleaded guilty to the crime.
In September 2011, her probation was ended early by Circuit Judge Wayne Timmerman. He agreed with her lawyers that she served her probation flawlessly, and finished her mandatory community service and sex offender classes. Documents from the Florida Department of Corrections showed she was a model parolee as well.
When he made the ruling, Timmerman said, "I'm sticking by my decision. Lafave is off probation."
The state prosecutor said after the ruling the state would appeal the decision he felt the judge had no authority to make.
After prosecutors were denied the appeal a week after the ruling, they appealed again to the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
In its Wednesday ruling, Lafave was ordered to serve the rest of her probation, as she agreed to in 2005. The appellate court said letting Lafave off the hook early was a "gross miscarriage of justice."
"If you make an agreement, a deal is a deal," Asst. State Attorney Michael Sinacore said. "The courts are required to enforce that deal."
A hearing will now be held to lay the groundwork for that probation, at a date and time to be determined. She was set to be on probation until 2015 before the September ruling.
Under the previous conditions of her probation, she was not allowed to leave Hillsborough County without the court's permission. She had a curfew of 10 p.m. and she cannot be around children, which will be difficult considering that Lafave is now a married mother of twin preschoolers.
The former Greco Middle School teacher is banned from ever teaching in Florida again.