Kaylia Hevia was sentenced to 120 days in Seminole County Jail final month for violating her probation at Teen Problem.
A Florida lady landed in jail after she claims she was kicked out of a court-ordered, Christian-based drug rehab middle for kissing one other lady in this system.
Kaylia Hevia, 29, was sentenced to 120 days in Seminole County Jail final month for violating her probation at Teen Problem, a “Christ-centered” drug and habit program she attended as a part of a plea for her February 2021 arrest, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
“It’s simply unfair that my sobriety must be compromised due to my sexuality,” Hevia instructed the newspaper from jail.
However Hevia, of Seminole County, is more likely to serve her total 120-day sentence earlier than her attraction is heard, her legal professional instructed the newspaper.
Assistant Public Defender Natasa Ghica stated she appealed the sentence in an try to reverse the “dangerous precedent” set in her consumer’s case, including that defendants should discover they “willfully and considerably” violate probation situations.
“Principally, the precedent that this case set was that Ms. Hevia willfully and considerably violated her probation by being homosexual,” Ghica instructed the newspaper. “Clearly, that’s problematic.”
However prosecutors stated in a press release late final month Hevia was kicked out of this system as a consequence of “dishonesty” reasonably than her sexuality.
" class="wp-image-22107385" width="321" height="379"/>“In the end the narrative put ahead that Hevia was compelled to enter a faith-based therapy program, that bias based mostly on sexual desire led to her dismissal, and that she was compelled to serve time in jail based mostly on that dismissal alone, are factually incorrect and we imagine deceptive,” the Seminole-Brevard State Lawyer’s Workplace stated in a press release.
A spokesman for the prosecutor’s workplace, declined to touch upon Hevia’s attraction and a spokesperson for the 18th Judicial Circuit refused to talk on the pending case, the Sentinel reported.
Pastor Rick Fernandez, govt director of the faith-based program run by Teen Problem Southeast Area, additionally declined to remark, in response to the report.
Hevia, of Seminole County, was arrested in February 2021 in Oveido, the place cops discovered her handed out in a automobile. She was later charged with illegal possession of Xanax and driving with a suspended license.
Hevia then enrolled final April in a 12-month program on the Davie Ladies’s Residence, a residential habit restoration program for adults operated by Teen Problem Southeast Area. As soon as there, she instructed staffers that she preferred ladies, prompting them to provide her conversion literature, she recalled.
“Once I received in there, I used to be like, ‘Wow, these folks ae loopy, like this looks like a cult,’” she instructed the Sentinel from jail.
" class="wp-image-22107379" width="314" height="375"/>Not one of the 9 rehab facilities operated by Teen Problem Southeast Area are licensed substance abuse suppliers below state code, though Florida has an exemption for church buildings and teams which might be “solely non secular, non secular or ecclesiastical in nature,” the Sentinel reported.
Hevia stated she and one other lady in this system kissed one another about three months after she began there and later confessed. The opposite lady was allowed to stay, she stated, however she was discharged for a “severe, ongoing” program violation – simply two months shy of ending her probation, data present.
Ghica requested a choose to terminate Hevia’s probation as a result of unfair discharge throughout an April 6 listening to, however Circuit Decide Melissa Souto was unmoved, saying drug therapy applications sometimes don't permit relationships amongst residents.
“That’s in no way what’s occurring,” Souto replied when Ghica stated her consumer was terminated from this system for being homosexual. “I guarantee you.”
The choose, who dominated Hevia’s probation violation to be willful, in the end sentenced Hevia to 120 days in jail with credit score for time served. However the jailed lady, who confronted as much as 5 years in jail, feels the expertise may be an excessive amount of for an additional individual in her sneakers.
“Fortunately, I've gotten quite a bit stronger,” she instructed the Sentinel. “Different folks won't be capable of deal with this as a result of it’s traumatic.”
Post a Comment