Photo by Maria Allard Former Roseville High School French teacher Janelle Batkins, left, and husband Brian Batkins wait July 2 for her sentencing in Macomb County Circuit Court.

By Maria Allard
C & G Staff Writer

MOUNT CLEMENS — A former Roseville High School French teacher accused of having sex with a student while he was her aide will serve three years probation, perform 240 hours of community service and continue receiving counseling as punishment. 

On July 2, Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Mark Switalski sentenced Janelle Batkins, 42, just weeks after she pleaded no contest to two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree.

Batkins, the mother of two, also will register as a sex offender and is not allowed to have contact with her 18-year-old accuser. She attended court with husband Brian Batkins and many family and friends.

“(She’s) an ideal candidate for probation based on her lack of record and prior history,” Switalski said. “She’s clearly made a terrible mistake. She’s been humiliated and ridiculed. She’s shamed before her sons. I don’t know what the effect has been on her marriage.”

Each count is a 15-year felony. Switalski’s decision not to sentence her to jail time or put her on a tether also came down after he earlier read a report from a doctor who evaluated her. The judge did not read the report in the courtroom.

“He does not view her as a predator,” the judge said.

The victim, whose name is being withheld because he was 17 during the affair and considered a minor in the case, attended the sentencing with his parents, who were disappointed with the verdict.

“It was nothing but a slap on the wrist,” his mother said. “I am a 43-year-old woman. I would never in a million years think of having a relationship with a 16- or 17-year-old child. That’s disgusting. This is a very sick woman. She didn’t think she did anything wrong.”

"A no contest plea is a situation in which a defendant decided they don't want to go to trial," Batkins’ attorney, David Griem, said when the plea came down in May. "It's treated like a guilty plea. With a guilty plea, there's an admission of wrongdoing by the defendant on record. With no contest, there's no admission of wrongdoing by the defendant."

Batkins and the student first met when he was in the eighth-grade and attended a school-wrestling trip to Iowa, according to his testimony during a preliminary exam Nov. 8 in 41-B District in Clinton Township. He was on the same wrestling team as one of her sons. The pair became reacquainted during his 10th-grade year at RHS.

He said the two had sex many times during his senior year in 2006-2007. The pair reportedly kept in contact through their cell phones, text messages and AOL accounts.

“She believed they would be together once he graduated from high school,” his mother said Wednesday.

While the legal age of consent to have sex in Michigan is 16, Batkins was charged with the crime because she was in a position of authority during the affair.

“If it wasn’t for the teacher/student relationship, there would be no crime here,” Griem said. “It’s only because of this statute (that) makes it illegal.

“Absolutely she’s sorry,” Griem said. “That’s why she pleaded this case. That’s why she was willing to accept whatever punishment. She knows she made a horrible mistake in judgment.”

Prior to sentencing, the victim’s mother addressed the judge.

“As parents, this situation has been a nightmare,” the mother said. Because of the affair, she said her son couldn’t go away to college like he wanted, electing to attend Macomb Community College.

“He can’t sleep at night. He is so irritable,” she said. “He got harassed at school, college, work.”

The case attracted so much attention, the family pulled their younger son out of the Roseville Community Schools district.

Brian Batkins spoke in the courtroom on his wife’s behalf.

“I’ll love her forever,” he said. “Our sons, God, our true friends are all that matter to me.”

Several people wrote letters to Switalski in support of the former teacher, from which Brian Batkins read excerpts, including one from a 1998 RHS graduate who visited Batkins many times for support when his parents were divorcing.

“She helped me (during) the most difficult time in my life,” the letter stated.