Former teacher who argued Alabama’s no sex with students law was

A former Decatur teacher whose lawyers argued Alabama’s teacher-student sex law was unconstitutional has pleaded guilty to engaging in a sex act with a student.

Carrie Cabri Witt, 47, entered a blind plea to one count in Decatur Monday afternoon, WAFF reported. She will be sentenced in July.

Witt taught history, psychology and social studies at Decatur High School when she was arrested in March 2016. Police said she had sex with two teenagers when they were her students at Decatur High. Witt also coached girls’ golf and junior varsity cheer.

She stayed on the Decatur City Schools payroll for more than two years on paid leave until she quit in 2018 the day before the school board was scheduled to meet to discuss her employment.

Witt’s lawyers argued that she was being prosecuted for a consensual relationship because she was a school employee, and that it violated her 14th Amendment right to privacy and equal protection. Her case was dismissed in 2017 when Morgan County Circuit Judge Glenn Thompson ruled Alabama’s teacher-student sex law unconstitutional.

But the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals later reversed Thompson’s ruling and sent the case back to circuit court.