"Jane" SMITH-BRACY - 4 yo (2007) Anna TX

An Anna woman
has been convicted of sexual assault involving her daughter even though
she was never accused of molesting the child. A Collin County
jury found Michelle Lynn Smith, 42, guilty of three counts of
aggravated sexual assault because she allowed her husband to repeatedly
abuse the preschool child, said Crystal Levonius, lead prosecutor in
the case. "She knew what he was and what he liked," Levonius said. "She continually gave him access to her." Each
count carries 70 years in prison and will run consecutively. Smith will
have to serve 90 years of the 210-year sentence before she will be
eligible for parole. "I don't believe Ms. Smith ever wanted the
little girl to be abused," said Thomas D'Amore, Smith's defense
attorney. "There was never any evidence presented that she intended or
aided it." Levonius disagreed, saying that Smith knew Glen
Bracy was a registered sex offender when she met him and was warned by
a therapist not to marry him. Smith ignored the warning and married Bracy on Jan, 26, 2002. At
the time, Bracy already had two prior convictions for child
molestation. In California, he was found guilty of molesting a deaf and
mute child, Levonius said. In 1995, he was convicted in Collin
County of indecency with a child by sexual contact and sentenced to
five years in prison. He was on parole for that conviction when he met
Smith. Their daughter was born in 2002, the same year they married. Levonius said the family would sleep together naked, and that Bracy began molesting his daughter before her second birthday. The
child reported the abuse in 2007, when she was 4 years old. She told
officials that "Michelle" would watch as the sexual abuse took place,
court documents show. When he was arrested, Bracy confessed to
sexually abusing his daughter "up to 50 times." Bracy, now 42, is
serving five life sentences for aggravated sexual assault.Levonius
thinks Smith's conviction on the same charges sets a precedent for
Collin County and sends a message to other mothers who allow their
children to be sexually abused. "You're going to be held accountable if you help sex offenders get access to your child," she said. Levonius said the girl is now in a much happier place.Five
weeks after being placed in foster care, the child "initially denied
having a family other than her foster family," court records show. The child, who is now 7, has been adopted. "Although
she grew in Michelle Smith's womb, she's grown in the heart of her new
mother," Levonius said. "She's with a family that loves her and
protects her."She also calls the child a hero for reporting the abuse. At the time, Michelle Smith had given birth to a second daughter, who was 4 months old when both children were removed from the home. "By
speaking out, she was able to protect her younger sister," Levonius
said. "She's a hero because I have no doubt that the 4-month-old would
have been in store for the same life."