EXCLUSIVE: Florida Teen Unaware Same-Sex Relationship With Underage Girlfriend Was Illegal

Kaitlyn Hunt was 18 when she had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old.

ByABC News
October 4, 2013, 12:09 PM

Oct. 4, 2013 — -- Summoned from her cell at Indian River County Jail in Vero Beach, Fla., 19-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt said she didn't know she was breaking the law when she engaged in a sexual relationship with her underage high school girlfriend, in an exclusive interview with ABC News' "20/20."

"I wouldn't have wanted get myself in this situation," Hunt told ABC News' Matt Gutman. "I wouldn't have continued, if I really knew what the laws were and if I knew what I was getting myself into."

Hunt was first sent to the county jail for violating a judge's order to not contact her girlfriend. Just yesterday, she accepted a plea offer that will keep her locked up for two more months. She will also have two years of house arrest, and a long probation.

After the court hearing, Hunt broke her silence to "20/20" about her relationship and how the case has changed for her.

A cheerleader and honor student at Sebastian River High School in Sebastian, Fla., Hunt was 18 when she began dating her then 14-year-old freshman girlfriend.

"She was like that person you could go to if you were having a bad day," Hunt said. "She would cheer you up in five minutes."

Their relationship became sexual with the two having encounters in the school bathroom. Hunt's mother, Kelley Hunt Smith, said she knew her daughter was in a same-sex relationship, but she did not know the other girl was so young.

"I did not know the girl was 14," Smith told 20/20. "She looks older than my daughter."

Rumors of a relationship between Hunt, a senior, and the freshman still in braces eventually reached the younger girl's parents, who immediately reported it to the local sheriff's office.

"Their feeling was the relationship was unhealthy and inappropriate based upon the age of the parties," Charles Sullivan, who represents the victim and her family, told "20/20."

Police then arrested Hunt, who, when interrogated, admitted to having a sexual relationship with the freshman.

After 24 hours in county jail, Hunt was released on bail, with the condition of having no contact with the younger girl.

The state attorney originally charged Hunt with two counts of lewd or lascivious battery of a child, which are felonies in Florida, with the possibility of a criminal record, having to register as a sex offender, and going to prison for a maximum of 30 years.

Hunt's mother claimed that the prosecutor and the younger girl's family were motivated in part by an anti-gay bias.

"We have people that are homophobes," Smith said. "It's not something they're willing to allow their daughter to express. It's not something that they're willing to accept."

The victim's parents disagree. "It wasn't the gender," Laurie Smith, the 14-year-old's mother, told "20/20."

"She definitely took our daughter's innocence away, in a way that should not have been done," added Jim Smith, the girl's father.

"I wouldn't mind if she came and talked to me about her sexual orientation," Laurie Smith said. "We've had the conversation, and I'm perfectly fine with who she is."

In May, prosecutors offered Hunt a plea deal, which she rejected, because she insisted she did nothing wrong and wanted a trial to prove her innocence.