GREENWOOD - A jury acquitted former Lavaca Middle School teacher Jack James on Thursday of sexual assault and indecency charges that stemmed from accusations of male eighth-graders that he urged them to expose themselves to him during the 2011-2012 school year.
The Sebastian County Circuit Court jury of six men and six women deliberated for more than five hours Thursday before returning acquittals on seven of eight charges filed against James, 52.
The jury found James innocent of felony second-degree sexual assault and three felony counts of sexual indecency with a child. Jurors also found him innocent of three appealed misdemeanor counts of attempted sexual indecency with a child.
Jury foreman Jeffery Pittman told Circuit Judge Stephen Tabor that the jury was deadlocked on a misdemeanor charge of harassment. Pittman told Tabor that the disagreement centered on the definition of harassment, which some jurors believed was so overly broad that they could not reach a verdict.
Tabor declared a mistrial on the harassment charge and said it would be up to the state todecide whether to retry James on that count.
James, who is also a Lavaca alderman, was convicted on the misdemeanor charges during a bench trial in Greenwood District Court last fall. He said at the time that he was innocent but did not contest those charges because he wanted to appeal the charges before a jury in Circuit Court.
After the verdicts were read, Tabor ordered the audience of about 60 people to remain seated in the courtroom until the jury had left the building. He then told James and his family to leave, go to their cars and drive from the area immediately before allowing the large group of student supporters who had attended all four days of the trial to leave the courtroom.
There were no incidents of misconduct inside or outside the courthouse.
James’ attorney, Michael Harry of Greenwood, said after court that James’ family was relieved that the year-long ordeal was behind them. The time has been difficult, but the family was strong, he said.
He said both he and James teared up as the verdicts were being read. The rest of the audience sat nearly motionless and silent after the verdict.
Harry argued to jurors in his closing argument that the state did not prove its case. He said inconsistencies and contradictions in the testimony of the state’s witnesses left a reasonable doubt and the only verdict the jury could reach was acquittal.
He asked jurors to hold prosecutors to the highest standard to protect everyone from infringement of their freedoms.
In her closing argument Thursday, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Alison Houston told jurors that despite James calling his accusers “liars,” James was guilty of the charges against him.
The children and their parents involved “have waited for over a year,” she told jurors. “They have put their faith in you, and they are waiting to see that justice is done.”
Houston said James “groomed” the students with his efforts to bond with them as a mentor, father figure, favorite teacher and “one of the guys,” then betrayed the trust they put in him.
“He used his position of trust and authority to take advantage of these kids,” she said.
Harry asked jurors in his closing argument why none of the students who later accused James ever reported any of their teacher’s behavior to their parents or to school officials. The students told authoritiesJames asked to see their genitals and talked to them about masturbation.
The allegations came to light after one of the boys told his mother in May about James’ alleged past behavior.
Harry said James took on the role of mentor and surrogate father with some of the boys and made himself available to discuss subjects, like masturbation, that they might not feel comfortable discussing with their parents.
And James admitted he wanted to be accepted by the students as “one of the guys” and sometimes made comments that Harry called immature.
“Being immature is not a crime,” Harry said.
For example, James admitted during his testimony Wednesday that he said it was “shower time” at the end of a class in which a student madea current events report about convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach. Sandusky was accused, among other things, of having sex with boys in a locker-room shower.
Harry also pointed out testimony by students that was contradicted by testimony of other students.
He said, for example, that two students said they exposed their genitals to James at the same time but, testifying in court, one said he didn’t know that the other had exposed himself.
And one student testified he was so upset about constant badgering by James that he had to transfer to another school, Harry said. He reminded jurors that the student returned to Lavaca and to James’ class three days later.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 06/21/2013