Utah Teacher Who Had Sex with Three Students Wants Parole Because of ‘Self-Esteem Issues’

A Utah high school teacher who pleaded guilty in 2015 to having sex with three students and was later sentenced to 30 years in prison is now asking for parole, insisting that her indiscretions stemmed from her “low self-esteem issues.”

Brianne Altice, an English teacher at Davis High School in Kaysville, Utah, was arrested in 2013 for having a sexual relationship with a student, but during the investigation, several other students came forward alleging similar relationships.

During her trial, Altice said that she “had no evil or malicious intent to cause harm” to the teens and, in fact, offered sex to them as a reward when their grades improved.

Despite her denial of harmful intentions, last November, Altice was sentenced to up to 30 years in jail. She must serve at least two years in prison before she is allowed parole, court documents say.

But while the convicted teacher is now agreeing that there was “no justification” for her actions, she believes that at the time, she did not understand the “gravity” of her relationships with the three students, according to Fox 13 Salt Lake City.

At a parole hearing this week, Altice said, “[I] justified everything” because the boys “said this and that and made me feel good about myself.”

The former teacher told the court she is now undergoing therapy in jail and is confronting the deep self-esteem issues that gave rise to her actions with the students.

“I clearly lost sight of all my values and my principles and was seeking inappropriate means to address my own issues,” Altice said. “Issues I’m very aware of now.”

“This was no one else’s fault but my own. This was not my ex-husband’s fault, or the school’s fault, or my students’ fault,” she told the parole board.

Barring any action by the state, the convicted teacher will have to stay in prison until at least January of 2020. The parole board can make alterations to the sentence and reported that it will reveal its decision early in February.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.