Woman who traded money for sex with senator's husband gets jail

[Bozita]

Source: Detroit Free Press

Woman who traded money for sex with senator's husband gets jail
BY KORIE WILKINS • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • FEBRUARY 5, 2009


Alycia Martin, the Westland woman accused of trading money for sex from the husband of a U.S. Senator, will spend less than five days in jail for violating her probation, a Troy judge ruled this morning.

Martin, 21, was lead away by an Oakland County Sheriff’s deputy in tears after the ruling by 52-4 District Judge William Bolle.

Martin's attorney, Frank Cusumano Jr., said he was surprised by the decision to send Martin to jail.

“I don’t know why he’d throw her in jail, but it underscores the whole thing,” he said. “There is a disparity between wealth and poverty.”

Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20090205/NEWS03/90205059/Woman+who+traded+money+for+sex+with+senator+s+husband+gets+jail

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Sounds to me like she couldn't/wouldn't pay court costs and/or the charges for drug/alcohol testing.

[crikkett]

1. misleading headline. I thought she was jailed for paying for sex

and it had all my feminist hackles up.

WELL. false alarm.

[okieinpain]

12. same here. whew I though it was just me. n/t.

[BR_Parkway]

2. Ok, who paid whom? That reads like she hired Senator's hubby for

stud.

[Bozita]

3. It was a bj at a Troy MI hotel.

[Dhalgren]

4. “There is a disparity between wealth and poverty.”

You think? This is typical. I wonder how many days the Senator's husband spent in jail for "trading money for sex" - is it just me or does that phrase sound odd?

[Bozita]

5. more...

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990129076

Woman in sex case to be back in court
BY KORIE WILKINS • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • JANUARY 29, 2009

The Westland woman accused of accepting money for sex from the husband of U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., will be back in court next week for a hearing after allegedly violating the terms of her probation.

Alycia Martin, 21, was sentenced in August to six months of probation by 52-4 District Judge William Bolle after she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespassing in June. She was originally charged with misdemeanor prostitution after a sting in February at a Troy hotel.

Martin, who is pregnant, was sentenced under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, which allows first-time nonviolent offenders ages 17-21 to have their records wiped clean if they successfully complete probation.

Stabenow’s husband, Tom Athans, was not charged in exchange for his assistance in the case. Athans, who has been married to Stabenow since 2003, did not appear in court.

more...

[Kweli4Real]

7. His assistance in the case?

"Yes, your honor. I, the husband of a politician, paid that woman to give me sex.":eyes:

[crikkett]

13. he got off by fingering her (snicker)

what's with the mamby-pamby language here? It's as if they're avoiding sex-scandal keywords.

[Still Sensible]

6. Obviously, anything involving sex and the courts always

is laced with a heavy dose of double standard. I don't know that this has anything to do with a class situation, so much as the double standard. In most jurisdictions, prostitutes pay the price and johns don't.

Frankly, I think prostitution should be legal, regulated and taxed, but I know a lot of people disagree.

As for the jail time, if I follow the thread correctly she did not go to jail for giving Stabenow's husband a paid-for blowjob, she went to jail for violating her probation somehow. Without knowing what the violation was, I can't form an opinion on the sentence.

[Baby Snooks]

9. Double sexist standards

If there are two parties to the crime, why is it only one party ever goes to jail?

[Romulox]

10. Not sex. CLASS. One is wealthy and connected; one is not.

[Still Sensible]

15. Due to the overwhelming evidence that

johns do not get prosecuted when prostitutes are--admittedly a situation that likely involves some level of class discrimination on its face--I still think this example is more about the double standard applied to women prostitutes and men customers that pervades most places in the US. I would be willing to bet that in the jurisdiction this occured you would find the vast majority of the time when a prostitute is busted the john in the same event was not--and all those johns aren't senators' husbands.

[Romulox]

16. Actually, in Michigan, we have a law that John's cars are seized. Just not if you're rich. nt

[TheWraith]

11. As I read it, she violated her probation by engaging in prostitution.

She's being let off on that count, but she's being punished for violating parole on her previous conviction.

[Romulox]

8. Funny how Mr. Debbie Stabenow didn't have court ordered breathalizers

Nor was his car seized (as is required by Michigan law,) nor is he going to jail.

I'm sure money and power have nothing to do with it, though!

[Bozita]

14. Article in the OP has been updated. This girl is flat broke!

from the updated DFP piece:

It’s been a long ride for the 21-year-old Alycia Martin, who is now eight months pregnant and engaged, said her pro bono attorney Frank Cusumano Jr. Martin, who dropped out of high school in the ninth grade and has been on her own since she was in her late teens, is working at a fast food restaurant, has a driver’s license and is working to get her GED. She also voted for the first time in November. But her gas and electric has been shut off and she struggles to buy necessities like food, clothing and baby supplies.

She is, Cusumano said, the most broke she’s ever been -- but also the happiest, because she’s a contributing member of society and no longer involved in prostitution.

“My car breaks down every other day,” said Martin, shortly before she was led away by an Oakland County Sheriff’s Office deputy. “There’s nothing I can do. I can’t walk here. And I don’t have money for gas most of the time.”

Martin had been sentenced in August to six months of probation on a misdemeanor trespassing charge after she was arrested in a prostitution sting in February 2008 at a Troy hotel. Initially charged with misdemeanor prostitution, she was sentenced by Bolle under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, which allows first-time nonviolent offenders ages 17-21 to have their records wiped clean if they successfully complete probation.

Bolle revoked that privilege this morning.

According to court officials, Martin had not showed up for mandatory drug and alcohol testing since September. Cusumano has repeatedly said Martin, who makes less than $100 a week and shares a car with other family members, cannot afford to pay for the testing.