INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The former Sebastian River High School students accused of having a sexual relationship with her then-14-year-old girlfriend has a new plea offer to consider ahead of a possible trial.
The State Attorney’s Office Wednesday put a new plea deal on the table that, if accepted, would mean no jail time and no sex offender label for the now-19-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt.
Currently, there is no deadline for Hunt to make a decision and a trial date has not yet been scheduled.
Hunt faces two counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a child between 12 and 16 years old. If she refuses the plea deal, she faces the possibility of being convicted and serving 15 years in prison. A judge could decide whether to give her the sex offender label.
Under the terms of the new plea deal – the second one the State has proffered – Hunt would plead no contest to two counts of battery and one count of interfering with the custody of a child.
Hunt, instead, would serve three years probation and perform 150 hours community service. She would also have to abide by an 11 p.m. curfew for the first year of the probation.
Hunt would have to refrain from contacting her now-former girlfriend and maintain a distance of at least 500 feet from the girl.
In exchange for meeting those, and other, conditions, Hunt would not have to serve jail or prison time and would not have a felony conviction on her record, nor a sex offense charge or label. At the end of her 3-year probation, Hunt could petition the court to seal or expunge the battery and custody charges, essentially wiping her record clean.
“I believe this is a fair offer intended to protect the victim and her family while taking into account the defendant’s future,” Assistant State Attorney Brian Workman wrote in the plea deal sent to Hunt’s attorney, Julia Graves.
