Defy the Odds

…we headed across town to the lawyer’s office. He explained that they were charging me with 3 counts of Sexual Battery, which was a 3rd degree felony. I could have thrown up right there on his table if I hadn’t been so shocked. I explained again that I had not crossed that very important line! He listened but explained my options. We could counter with a plea deal, or we could go to trial. My initial instinct was to take a plea…any plea…to avoid this girl from having to go through a trial. As far as I knew (which was nothing because I’d been virtually sequestered for the past 2 months) nobody knew who the student behind all the rumors was. There were plenty of rumors that I’d been caught in an inappropriate relationship with a player or student, which was the cause for my resignations. But I had hoped that her anonymity was still intact. I asked if it mattered at all that I could prove that my former fiancé and friend both had lied in their statements. He explained that what they had said, whether it is true or not, really was useless to the case. Wow…they stabbed me in the back and told all of the lies for nothing. Their statements were worthless. I told my lawyer that I didn’t want to admit to something I knew I hadn’t done. He understood and said that we’d counter with a plea to a lower degree of felony. He then brought up the most hurtful part of the charge. I would be labeled as a Tier III Sexual Offender. That’s when I broke down. I fell to pieces. Sexual Offender? I loved kids in the very purest sense of the word. I would have given my life for the kids I coached. I dedicated my life to help teach kids to be healthy and make good decisions. I had wanted to teach and coach kids since I was one myself! Did I mess up? Absolutely, without question. But sex-offender? He explained to me that Tier III was the most severe level. I would have to register with my county sheriff every 90 days for the rest of my life if found guilty. He went on to explain that the reason I was facing the highest level was because I was in a “position of authority” as a teacher. I had never once thought of this “power”, let alone used it. I never threatened a grade or punishment if she refused anything. She had even said in her statement to the police that I had never given her any rules to follow or anything like that. I didn’t even have her in class to give her a grade, and I was only a volunteer softball coach. I didn’t even make out the line-up! But, because I was a teacher at her school, whether I had her in class or not, determined playing time or not, didn’t matter. I was facing being labeled with the same distinction as a 50 year old who violently raped a 4 year old child. The teacher and coach who had so many students, players and future players looking up to her because she’d done so much to listen, help, encourage and provide for them was now, because of a relationship completely legal had I not been a teacher, was going to be labeled as a threat to children. Devastated is too small a word. I thought I’d hit rock bottom a few times in the past, but the bottom kept getting lower.

We would counter with a plea, but whatever we did wasn’t going to make me feel any better. I wasn’t who they said I was. I hadn’t done what they were accusing me of. The truth would have to prevail, right? I mean, this was the justice system! It should be fair, right? How naïve I was…