December 13, 2013 by Robert Franklin, Esq.
Here’s a quick update to the Kathryn Camille Murray case (KHOU, 12/12/13).
Back in February of 2012 Murray was arrested for sexually abusing a 15 year-old boy. She was 29 at the time and the boy’s teacher at Memorial Middle School in Houston. She’d had sex with the boy numerous times at her house, in her school room and at a local hotel. So she was arrested, granted bail and ordered, as a condition thereof, to stay away from the child.
She didn’t. The pair were caught again at Murray’s father’s house. She was arrested again and has apparently remained in jail ever since. She finally came to trial and pleaded guilty to one count of improper relations with a student and one count of sexual assault of a child.
Sentencing is set for January 31st.
Murray was fired by Spring Branch Independent School District as soon as authorities there learned of her arrest and the charges against her.
“Campus and District administration took immediate and appropriate action after an initial report was made by a faculty member to the school principal on Feb. 13. Mrs. Murray was removed from the classroom and the campus on the same day,” the district said in a released statement.
But after the allegations surfaced and Murray lost her job, she still continued to have contact with the boy after a judge strictly forbade it, landing herself in more trouble…
The school district wanted Murray to be punished for her crime.
”We feel that Ms. Murray’s behavior is despicable, and encourage the district attorney to prosecute Ms. Murray to the fullest extent of the law,” a Spring Branch ISD statement read.
They’re not the only ones.
The boy’s mother said her son, who was the victim in all of this, was suffering. The teen said that he was in love with Ms. Murray.
”We are not good, we are very hurt. My son is really confused, hurt. We working with him very closely but he’s not good, not good at all,” she said.
Click on that link. It’s to a previous article that gives an idea of just how upset the mother and her son are. Mom wants Murray to do time.
What the boy’s mother describes is the reality of sexual relationships between adult women and underage boys. For public consumption a boy like this one may portray himself as lucky to be schooled by an older woman. The common response to such a situation is “Lucky him!” But psychologists tell us that the reality is quite different.
Basically, boys of his age who have sexual relationships with older women tend to believe themselves to be in love and that the relationship is real. After all – and again contrary to the stereotypes of boys and men – that’s what most males seek in female companionship. We’re told, often by those with an anti-male agenda, that all men want are uncommitted, casual sexual relationships. That may be true for a narrow slice of the male population in their late teens and early twenties. But that phase passes pretty quickly for all but the few who seek permanent immaturity.
What 15-year-olds don’t understand is that a relationship with a woman twice their age isn’t likely to last and indeed shouldn’t. Just what the psychological makeup of a woman, particularly a teacher, who preys on male children, I’m not sure. But it can’t be conducive to long lasting adult relationships. Boys grow up; they become men. And when they do, her predilection for adolescents will reassert itself to the detriment of the relationship.
And of course, as he matures, he’ll come to see her for what she is – a pedophile – and naturally gravitate to other women.
In short, the entire arrangement is all but guaranteed to leave him feeling hurt, confused and alone, i.e. exactly the way this boy’s mom described him feeling.
Kudos to her for calling for prison time for Murray. And Kudos to the school district for doing the same. Let’s hope the judge listens.
On January 31st, we’ll know.
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