Appeals court allows Mary Kay Letourneau to earn royalties, visit children

Tuesday, April 18th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SEATTLE (AP) -- Mary Kay Letourneau, convicted of child rape for a relationship with a former grade-school student who fathered two of her children, may earn royalties from books, movies and interviews, an appeals court ruled.

Overturning sentencing conditions imposed by a King County judge, the state Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Letourneau could not be barred from profiting by selling her story as part of her sentence. The appellate court also ruled that Letourneau could visit with her six children without supervision.

Letourneau, 38, serving a 71/2-year prison term for second-degree child rape, is reportedly working on an autobiography that describes her relationship with Vili Fualaau that began when he was 12 and she was a married mother of four.

The boy earlier had been a grade-school pupil of hers in a suburban Seattle school district.

The appeals court did not address Washington state's "Son of Sam" law, which bars convicted criminals from profiting from their crimes. But Letourneau's attorney said Tuesday it is unlikely that prosecutors would try to block his client under that law, since the original Son of Sam law in New York state was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The prosecutor or the (state) attorney general's office would have to ask, 'Is there any possible way we can argue with a straight face that our law is meaningfully different than the Son of Sam law that was struck down?"' attorney James Lobsenz said.

Since the Supreme Court's decision in the New York case, "there is no reason for anybody to be motivated enough to try to enforce the law" in Washington state, he said.

County prosecutors were considering whether to appeal the ruling, and no decision had been made on whether to invoke the state law, spokesman Dan Donohoe said.

New York's law was passed in 1977, after reports that publishers were offering "Son of Sam" serial killer David Berkowitz huge sums of money for the rights to his story.

The original law was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in1991 on free speech grounds. New York then enacted a revised version, which remains on the books.

Both of Letourneau's daughters fathered by Fualaau -- one when Letourneau was free on a suspended sentence under condition that she have no contact with him -- are in the custody of the Fualaau's mother. Letourneau's four older children are in the custody of her former husband.

Last week, Fualaau, 16, and his mother filed claims for damages exceeding $1 million from Des Moines, a suburb south of Seattle, and the Highline School District, saying police and school officials failed to protect him from the teacher's sexual advances.

In the past, Fualaau, his mother and Letourneau characterized the relationship as a love affair. Lawyers have not said whether there was a falling-out between Letourneau and the family.

The appeals court noted that several mental-health experts had recommended that Letourneau be prohibited from contacting news organizations because she was using the publicity to further seduce and exploit Fualaau.

Nonetheless, the prohibition against financial gain did not stop Letourneau from seeking attention, and "there is no showing in this record that Letourneau committed second-degree rape of a child in order to profit from telling her story," the opinion stated.