WILMINGTON, Del. - A sixth-grade science teacher who was accused of having sex with a 13-year-old student has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Rachel L. Holt, 35, had pleaded guilty to second-degree rape. She sobbed in court Friday as Superior Court Judge Calvin L. Scott gave her the mandatory minimum sentence.

Prosecutors had wanted Scott to sentence Holt to the maximum of 25 years.

Holt was initially charged with 28 counts of first-degree rape.

Police accused her of having sex with the boy that many times during an intense weeklong affair. She was also accused of plying the boy with alcohol and allowing him to drive her car.

I agree. Rape is rape, but this hardly stinks of the charge. 28 times in one week? Obviously he wasn't "forced" into 28 times in one week. Did she take advantage of him? Absolutely. But I agree, this does not merit ten years in jail. There are people, some on this forum, anxious and happy to throw anyone accused of anything that offends their sensibilities in the slammer for life.

Let's not become the left, friends, merely substituting our own "excuses" to lock away everyone we disagree with.

We must have laws, and they must be enforced, but society must also be served.