Debra Lafave, Tampa teacher in sex case, wins ruling by Florida Supreme Court on ending probation

Tampa Middle School teacher Debra Lafave won an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court to end her probation early, The Tampa Bay Times reports online.

Lafave, 34, pleaded guilty in 2004 to having sex with a 14-year-old male student at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, where she taught English. She served 2-1/2 years of house arrest and was to remain on sex-offender probation until November 2014.

But in 2011 a circuit judge ended her probation. Prosecutors appealed and the 2nd District Court of Appeal reversed the decision to end her probation. She then appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, which said Thursday the Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction.

According to tampabay.com, she will remain on probation until her case is heard again by a Hillsborough trial judge. Pending a trial judge's approval, which is all but guaranteed, Lafave will not have to complete the final year of her probation, the website said.

Lafave had faced up to 30 years in prison but was offered a plea deal because her victim's family wanted to avoid a trial, tampabay.com said.

Lafave is now the mother of twin boys born in 2011.