Ex-Teacher Stacy Schuler Sentenced to 4 Years for Sex with Students
Stacy Schuler, a former teacher in the U.S., has been found guilty of sexual battery and sentenced to four years in prison for having sex with five of her students.
Schuler, 33, was sentenced to four years in prison for the encounters with the boys, some of them football players, at her home in Springboro, Ohio, from August to December last year.
She had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to 16 charges of sexual battery and three charges of providing alcohol to minors. Judge Robert Peeler said that he couldn't make the magnificent leap required to believe that Schuler was insane when the sexual encounters occurred.
The Mason High School students, who were all around 17 at the time, testified that Schuler had been drinking at the time of the encounters and was a willing participant who initiated much of the contact. The age of sexual consent in Ohio is 16 but it is illegal for a teacher to have sex with students.
Peeler announced the guilty verdict, saying that the defense had the burden to prove that Schuler had an underlying medical condition and they failed to do so.
I find that the state has proven each and every element of sexual battery as alleged in the 19 counts, Peeler said.
Schuler resigned in February after spending 10 years as a gym teacher, health teacher and athletic trainer at Mason. Schuler, who declined to make a statement, is now classified as a Tier Three sex offender and must register her name and address every 90 days for the rest of her life, Peeler said.
While Peeler said Schuler did not meet the definition of insanity, he said she clearly had mental health problems. You crossed a line, he said. You wouldn't be here if they weren't your students.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.