MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee mother is upset because a teacher will not go to jail for choking her daughter.

Teacher Patrick Richard admitted choking 12-year-old Delana Gaines in class last November. On Thursday, Richard pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge. He will probably be sentenced to probation, but the girl's parents say that's not fair.

Gaines’ parents thought they were coming to court to watch the teacher, who admitted choking their daughter, plead guilty to a felony charge. But when they got there, they were devastated to learn Richard’s attorney had worked out a deal with an assistant district attorney.

"All she said was he was pleading guilty," Sabrina Gaines said. "She did not say he was walking away with a misdemeanor charge."

Richard was arrested last November for attacking the 12-year-old girl in front of her classmates at Cass Elementary School. He said he lost control because she wouldn't stop mouthing off. He was later arrested and lost his job with MPS.

Gaines' parents still believe he is getting off too easy. "I feel like he is not being punished. He ought to be punished. He ought to be doing time. He ought to have a felony offense," Sabrina Gaines said.

The assistant D.A. said the main reason she agreed to a plea deal because she wanted to spare Delana and the other students at the Cass School from having to testify in a criminal trial.

Richard will likely serve probation and have to take anger management classes as long as he agrees never to work with children again.

But that was not consolation for the Sabrina Gaines, who broke down when explaining that her daughter has never fully recovered from being attacked by her teacher. "She is not Delana. She don't even go to school all day…. "

The parents say they plan to sue the school system for not protecting their daughter.