FILE - This April 20, 2017, file photo released by the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office shows Tad Cummins. Cummins, a Tennessee teacher who was on the run for more than five weeks with a 15-year-old student, is scheduled to be sentenced, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. (Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
January 25, 2019 - 1:30 PM
NASHVILLE - A Tennessee teacher who was on the run for weeks with a 15-year-old student is appealing his 20-year prison sentence.
An attorney for Tad Cummins filed a notice of appeal on Wednesday, a week after Cummins was sentenced in federal court in Nashville for transporting a minor across state lines for sex and obstructing justice.
The girl's disappearance in March 2017 set off a national manhunt that ended when she was recovered in California more than five weeks later.
Prosecutors had asked for a 30-year sentence. The 52-year-old Cummins argued that was the equivalent of life in prison. He asked for the minimum sentence of 10 years.
In splitting the difference, the judge said Cummins committed a "pretty despicable crime" but also had no criminal record and was unlikely to reoffend.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019