King sentenced for sexual battery

WALLACE — Constance Danielle King was sentenced earlier this week at the Shoshone County Courthouse.

King was charged and pled guilty to misdemeanor sexual battery.

The charges stemmed from an incident that occurred between December 2021 and January 2022 where she allegedly solicited a minor to participate in sexual activity at her home in Mullan.

The victim was a student in the Mullan School District — where King had previously been employed.

King, who had no prior criminal record, accepted a plea agreement with the state for her sentencing.

For her guilty plea, King received a sentence of two years of supervised probation, community service and fines, as well as additional treatment and a mental health evaluation.

A person commits sexual battery by engaging in or soliciting sexual contact with a child who is 16 or 17 years old when the defendant is at least five years older — with the intent of arousing, appealing to or gratifying the lust, passion, or sexual desires of such person, minor child, or third party.

Several local residents reached out to the News-Press expressing their frustration with what they are perceiving as a light sentence — those concerns were expressed to the Shoshone County Prosecutor’s Office, who took the time to address the questions and concerns.

Shoshone County Deputy Prosecutor Britney Jacobs explained what the thought process was behind the plea agreement between the state and King.

“Although the conduct of the defendant was both inappropriate, unlawful, and unacceptable, in comparing the conduct of this particular case to other crimes of a similar nature, we found the facts of this case to be less severe than most,” Jacobs said. “Included in the judgment for supervised probation were conditions that would limit Ms. King’s contact with juveniles, including not having any children ages 13-17 at her home without another adult present and not being allowed to attend school events unless her children were participating. The defendant accepted responsibility and was remorseful for her actions. In our argument, the state strongly recommended that further rehabilitative conditions be imposed to address the mindset that the minor victim was to blame for her actions. This argument was accepted by the Magistrate Judge, resulting in further mental health assessments and treatment as part of her sentencing.”

As part of the agreement, King was also required to undergo a psychosexual evaluation and disclose the results to the court in order to determine the likeliness of reoffending.

“This evaluation is both invasion and requires a defendant to undergo a polygraph examination to ensure there are no other victims at large,” Jacobs said. “The state was able to utilize the responses and recommendations from that evaluation in its argument for specialized conditions of probation that would further provide reassurances for society’s protection.”

In July 2022, the Mullan School District was contacted by the News-Press and asked if King’s employment with them had ended due to the allegations, they were also asked if any crimes may have been committed on MSD property and if they had any statement regarding student safety.

They declined to comment.