A former Harding Middle School teacher, Makenzie Johnson, accepted a plea deal in January after police say she tried to coerce a then-14-year-old student into sex, court documents detail.
The student's parents say that's not what justice looks like.
"To be completely honest, I think the whole situation has been swept under the rug and silenced," said Tashawnda Johnson, the student's mother. "If (my son) were to be white and she was black, it would be an uproar. People would be offering support and resources, things that we haven't received."
"The way the justice system handled this, it blows my mind," said Nick Logan, the student's father. "I know people in jail six to seven years for driving while barred."
Tashawnda Johnson said her son was supposed to have a guardian ad litem, an attorney for minors, but was never appointed one. She also said no one from Des Moines Public Schools has had communication with the family since the initial report.
"Not an apology, nothing," Tashawnda Johnson said.
"The damage (Makenzie Johnson) has caused to my son is everlasting," she said. "I don't think he'll ever put this behind him."
The former Des Moines teacher was
charged in May 2019 with lascivious acts with a child, two counts of solicitation, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, third-degree sexual abuse and dissemination of obscene materials to a minor regarding multiple incidents with the student, who is now 16, from November 2018 to April 2019.
A charge of enticing a minor was added to her case, according to July court records.
The plea deal Makenzie Johnson accepted Jan. 29, however, dismissed the charges of enticing a minor, third-degree sexual abuse, dissemination of obscene materials to a minor and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse. The plea deal also reduced the two felony solicitation charges to two misdemeanor counts of first-degree harassment, a sexually motivated offense.
The defendant entered Alford pleas to the harassment charges, meaning she did not admit guilt but recognizes that the state can prove the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
Prosecutors will recommend a five-year prison sentence, with four years suspended, when Makenzie Johnson is sentenced. Barring any new criminal activity,she would serve up to a year in jail and then two years of probation for the crimes, court records show.
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