Judge lifts Letourneau no-contact order

By Michael Ko
Seattle Times staff reporter

Mary K. Letourneau is open to more children.

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"He's thrilled, he's excited, he's as happy as can be," said Scott Stewart, Fualaau's lawyer, explaining his client's reaction to Lau's ruling. "I can comfortably tell you he's ecstatic to have the order lifted. ...

"The human being in me is hoping they can find some quiet time to say hello."

Lau's two-paragraph order allows Letourneau, 42, to have "unrestricted contact" with Fualaau, now 21, clearing the way for the reunion both have apparently sought since Letourneau was released from prison on Wednesday.

She was 34 and he was 12 when they started having sex. He was a student of hers for two years at Shorewood Elementary School in Burien.

	Vili Fualaau is looking forward to a reunion.

Fualaau is flying back to Seattle from New York City after an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today" show. Letourneau, now a registered Level 2 sex offender, is living with a couple in Boulevard Park in unincorporated King County.

In separate television interviews earlier this week, Fualaau said he still loved Letourneau, and Letourneau said she would be open to having more children with Fualaau. They have two daughters, ages 7 and 5; Letourneau has four children from a previous marriage.

Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, said: "We have taken into consideration the wishes of the victim, Vili Fualaau, who is now an adult. The Department of Corrections has no objection, and we therefore see no further legal basis to keep the no-contact order in place."

Just hours after Letourneau became a free woman, Fualaau filed the motion to dismiss the no-contact order. His lawyer, Stewart, argued that there was "no allegation of forcible compulsion" in the case and that the sole basis for criminal charges was Fualaau's age.

"Mr. Fualaau is now 21 years old," the three-page motion reads. "He does not fear Mary K. Letourneau."

Fualaau told Lauer, "I want to see who she is and if she's still the same person that I fell in love with ... and I want to see if she feels the same way for me.

"If we're still in love," he said, "then we're going to get married."

He said dating women his own age hasn't made him happy.

"Every girl or woman that I've gone out with, I've always compared Mary to them," Fualaau told Lauer. "I wanted to bond with them on many different levels. And I couldn't do that with any other girl, because I constantly thought about Mary."

He said he hopes to decide by the end of the month whether their relationship has a future.

Michael Ko: 206-515-5653

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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