Paul, a former teacher in the Henrico County school system, was engaged to a Henrico County police officer who is the father of the two boys she abused. The children were ages 9 and 11 when the abuse occurred.

With the sentence, Judge David Johnson said he wanted to make sure the boys she abused would be free from any possibility that their former stepmother might pass in their midst.

Prosecutors said Paul strangled, punched and kicked the boys. They also said she forced them to do excessive exercise as punishment.

The jury viewed videos from inside the family's Chesterfield home that prosecutors said showed Paul forcing the boys to do wall sits and jumping for hours. The punishments were given for not being able to guess a word she was thinking, missing the bus, forgetting their planne

See Full Page