No sentence relief for ex-teacher convicted of sex crimes

LANCASTER, Pa. -- (WPMT) -- A Lancaster Judge ruled that a former Lancaster County high school teacher convicted of sexually abusing two students will get no relief from her state prison sentence.

Since mandatory minimums have been deemed unconstitutional, Christy Lee Smith, now 39, was granted a re-sentencing hearing because her previous sentence – 14 to 30 years – involved a mandatory minimum. On Monday, Lancaster County President Judge Dennis Reinaker ordered a prison term of 14 to 28 years for the former teacher at McCaskey High School.

Assistant District Attorney James Reeder asked the judge to order a sentence in the high end of state guidelines.

Smith, who appeared via video conference, said little and offered no remorse for sex abuse of two county students between 2008 and 2010, according to Reeder.

Smith was originally convicted at trial in 2012, and sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison. That conviction was overturned; she was convicted two years later and sentenced to 14 to 30 years.