Paschal Guilty Of Sex Assault

EX-TEACHER GETS 30 YEARS IN PRISON

Attorney Casey Copeland, left, speaks Wednesday with client, David Paschal, 37, after Paschal was sentenced to 30 years after being found guilty of four counts of seconddegree sexual assault and bribery of a witness at the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville.
Attorney Casey Copeland, left, speaks Wednesday with client, David Paschal, 37, after Paschal was sentenced to 30 years after being found guilty of four counts of seconddegree sexual assault and bribery of a witness at the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville.

— A former Elkins High School teacher who had a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old student was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday.

Circuit Court Judge William Storey sentenced David Paschal, 37, after a jury found Paschal guilty of four counts of second-degree sexual assault and one count of bribing a witness.

The jury of seven women and five men recommended a sentence of 10 years on each sexual assault count and a $4,000 fine on the charge of bribing a witness.

Storey imposed the fine but suspended 10 years of the sentence.

The judge said he was tempted to sentence Paschal to serve the full 40 years in prison given the harm done to the victim and other teens Paschal is accused of touching inappropriately may be irreparable.

“Your conduct, in my judgment, was not only a gross violation of the law, but a gross violation of your ethics as a teacher,” Storey said.

Paschal, who pleaded with the court for “leniency and mercy” following the jury’s verdict, had no visible reaction as Storey issued the sentence. Each sexual assault count was punishable by between five and 20 years in prison.

“Obviously we’re pleased with the verdict that the jury came back with,” said Mark Booher, deputy prosecuting attorney. “As I told the jury, parents have got enough to worry about when sending their kids to school. They don’t need to worry about a teacher trying to have sex with their children.”

Paschal taught history, psychology and other subjects at the high school for several years when he began a sexual relationship in December 2009 with an 18-year-old senior who had taken his classes and babysat his children.

The relationship, which was consensual, lasted until last April. When the teen learned of Paschal’s interest in others, including a 17-year-old student who had taken over her babysitting job, she went to school officials and police.

Under Arkansas law, a teacher is prohibited from a sexual relationship with a student younger than 21. Paschal’s attorney, Casey Copeland, challenged that law earlier this year, claiming it was unconstitutional and unfairly criminalized private acts between consenting adults, but the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected the argument.

In June, Paschal ran into another former student at Walmart and asked him to the student he would give his accuser several thousand dollars if she dropped the charges against him.

Paschal was fired in May from his teaching job.

After hearing testimony from the victim, Paschal, and several other witnesses on Tuesday, the jury took only about 30 minutes to find him guilty on all counts.

Before deciding on a sentence, jurors heard from three teenage girls who said they attended parties in Baldwin in October where Paschal, the only adult there, served drinks and slapped the buttocks of several girls.

One girl, who was 15 at the time, described how he attempted to put his hand up her shirt.

The girls said Paschal was known to teens as “Rascal” and “The Creeper.”

An Elkins High School graduate also testified Paschal had twice touched her inappropriately in 2008 when she was a 17-year-old student at the school.

Paschal still faces two counts of second-degree sexual assault based on the allegations he groped girls at the parties last year. No trial date has been set in that case.

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