A judge approved a plea deal Friday allowing a couple to escape jail time for tying up their pregnant daughter and taking her out of state, allegedly in hopes of persuading her to have an abortion.
Katelyn Kampf, 20, spoke out against the plea agreement at a tense hearing at which she and her parents avoided eye contact.
The parents, Nicholas and Lola Kampf, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct charges. Under the agreement, the district attorney dropped felony kidnapping charges, and the assault case will be dropped if the parents undergo counseling and meet other requirements.
"This is a family tragedy," Lola Kampf told Justice William Brodrick. "Those events have torn apart this family."
The Kampfs were accused of tying up their then-19-year-old daughter in September 2006 at their home in North Yarmouth, Maine, forcing her into their car and heading toward New York for an abortion.
They were arrested at a shopping center in New Hampshire after the young woman fled and called police. Police found a .22-caliber rifle, duct tape and rope in the car.
Katelyn Kampf had said earlier this week that she would oppose the agreement because "what I've been looking for is some sort of justice." She contends her parents were angry that she and her boyfriend, who is black, were expecting a baby.
She said her mother held her down and spit on her and her father tackled her when she tried to escape.
The parents' lawyer denied that the Kampfs were racist but said they were troubled by the unplanned pregnancy, which they learned about after their daughter dropped out of college.
Kampf gave birth to a son in January and had him with her in the courtroom. The child's father, Reme Johnson, is to be deported to his native South Africa after serving time for receiving stolen property.