Bay Shore, NEW YORK

A year after he was convicted in the one case, he was acquitted on another case.

October 29, 2008 - A jury acquitted Richard Tuthill, 36, two counts of second-degree sexual abuse after a three-week trial The jury deliberated seven days on the misdemeanor charges. He was on trial for touching two 13-year-old girls in separate incidents in 2005 during private voice lessons at his home.

Last year, a jury found Tuthill guilty of second-degree sexual abuse, a charge that was the result of the first girl to accuse him. He was sentenced to six months' probation and was required to register as a sex offender. The case is being appealed.

Tuthill was a music teacher at Bay Shore Middle School.

Mesa, ARIZONA

NOT GUILTY VERDICT

ARRESTED May 25, 2007 - Kyle Hite, 25, a teacher's aide at Westwood High School, was arrested, accused of sexual abuse.

The 16-year old victim told police that Hite started brushing his hand against her breast during class. She says the abuse started in February, continuing until last week. When she told him to stop after the second time, she says, he told her to "cut the attitude". She complained to the assistant principal.

According to police, Hite admitted to touching the girl inappropriately during class. He allegedly told police he continued to do it because he thought the teenager found him attractive.

His contract expired with the end of the school year Thursday.

May 30 - Mesa school officials say they made a mistake in hiring Hite in an e-mail sent to the Arizona Republic.

According to the district, Hite had no record of criminal activity in Arizona. However, he did have "previous police involvement" outside of Arizona but no criminal convictions, district spokeswoman Kathy Bareiss said in an email.

They overlooked information that would have raised concerns about the applicant in the second report.

INDICTED June 5 - Hite was indicted Monday by a Maricopa County grand jury on three counts of sexual abuse. He is scheduled for his arraignment June 13.

Dec 16 - A hearing is scheduled for Dec 17. (Source: East Valley Tribune database)

NOT GUILTY VERDICT August 27 - A jury found Hite NOT GUILTY of three counts of sexual abuse. The allegations prompted the Mesa Unified School District to revise its criminal background checks because an internal investigation found Hite had had “prior police involvement” from another state that had gone unnoticed when he was hired.

Long Beach, CALIFORNIA

Acquitted of all charges by a jury.

Sept 17, 2007 - Raul Olivas, 41, Millikan High School head boys basketball coach, was arrested on suspicion of secretly videotaping his 16-year-old stepdaughter after the girl found a camera containing graphic images hidden in her bedroom closet.

The girl was searching for something when she came across the camera trained on a part of the room where she typically dressed. On the camera were images of her in various states of undress.

Police did not identify Olivas, but the Press-Telegram did. Arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 27

June 24, 2008 - Reader said that he was found not guilty. We are trying to find an online story to link to.

ACQUITTED July 11 - A jury last month acquitted a former Millikan High School teacher and coach charged with two counts of secretly taping his 16-year-old stepdaughter for sexual gratification.

Rather, Olivas and a forensic psychologist who testified for the defense - along with Olivas's wife and his stepdaughter - testified that Olivas was suffering from alcoholism, gambling addiction and depression and that he planted the camera in an obvious place as an act of self-destruction.

During the trial, Olivas' three previous DUIs were brought to light as well his prior treatment for alcoholism during a stint in rehab.

ODD NOTE: City Prosecutor Tom Reeves said Thursday that his office made no notice of the trial at the request of the victim and her family. "They were very upset with the previous media coverage," Reeves said. "So we agreed win, lose, or draw we would not publicize the case." [TT - Is that bizarre, or what?]

EVEN ODDER NOTE: According to court transcripts, Dr. Sanjay Sahgal - an assistant professor at USC and the forensic psychiatrist who interviewed Olivas - said Olivas freely admitted planting the camera to tape his stepdaughter and admitted he was attracted to teen girls. The doctor said such attractions are normal for adult males; and that while the act of setting up the camera was immoral and wrong, it was not proof of sexual deviation or pathology. [TT - No. Every father secretly tapes their 16-year-old daughter undressing. Or dreams of it? What the hell is that?]

JURY ACQUITS.

St. Louis, MISSOURI

STORY OF THE DAY...

July 2, 2008 - Cathy Heminghaus, a Special School District teacher, testified at the trial that she feared that the teenage who forced to perform oral sex on him would harm her son or daughter so she did let him and his friends drive her car.

During the rides, she said, the teens forced her to sit in a back seat that folded down into the trunk, put her coat on top of her, played music as loudly as they could and drove for hours around north St. Louis County.This happened about 15 times, she estimated.
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The only problem is that none of the four teenage boys are on trial. Heminhaus is. Entry

Paragould, ARKANSAS

Sex with two male student nets 8 years in prison.

CHARGED August 10, 2007 - Monica Ann Cluck, 25, a kindergarten teacher at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School, was charged with sexual assault in the first degree and contributing to the delinquency of a minor for alleged sexual involvement with a 17-year-old male student.

Cluck's husband turned over a tape to police in July. She is accused of having sex with a 17-year-old boy at a church where she was a Sunday School teacher and choir director. Reportedly, the boy admitted to the relationship.

Cluck resigned on Wednesday.

LEGAL Arkansas state law says first-degree sexual assault occurs when an adult in a position of trust or authority over a person younger than 18 engages in sexual activity with the minor.

August 15 - A second boy is claiming he had a sexual relationship with Cluck that began when he was 17 and ended in May. The first charges came last week when a video tape surfaced showing Cluck and a 17 year old boy drinking alcohol and having sex. She will appear in Court August 16.

August 16 - KAIT K8 reported on Cluck's MySpace page and her anti-drinking teaching.
Next court date is September 28th.

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ONLINE RESOURCE: Salaries Certified employees.
She was to be paid $30,270 for 190 days for the 2006-2007 school year.
School board minutes can be found here.

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TRIAL June 18, 2008 - The jury was selected Tuesday. In the opening argument, the prosecutor said, "She is an adult woman and the two teens are 15 and 17 year old boys who still live at home with their parents and still go to school. We’re not here to cast any judgments but everyone is subject to following the law.” Her lawyer says her husband was abusive. “Two boys developed crushes on her and she became flattered,” Miller said. “And that’s what has led us here.”

Her husband was the first to testify about how he learned about the sexual relationship with the boy. He set up survelliance video and taped her having sex with the boy. He went to police. A pastor testified about a mother approaching him with print-outs of her MySpace page and text communication with her son. He did not contact police but spoke with the teacher. A father of a teenage girl testified that Monica Cluck exposed his daughter to alcohol.

"You send your kid to church and you never think alcohol would be involved,” he said.

GUILTY VERDICT & SENTENCING June 21, 2008 - The jury found Cluck guilty of two counts of sexual assault in the first degree and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. After three hours of deliberation, they sentenced her to eight years in prison. (Two eight-year terms to run concurrently.) The contributing charge is a misdemeanor for which she was find $750.

Canton, MICHIGAN

MEMORABLE MOMENT IN THE COURTROOM

The trial of a Michigan teacher is expected to take three days. Defense attorney Todd Flodd said he will prove that Stephanie Stein, 32, was forced into a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student.

- Caption under a picture of Stein and her attorney

TT entry for Stephanie Stein

Newark, NEW JERSEY

CHARGES DROPPED

Nov 15, 2007 - A Pennsylvania jury acquitted Christopher Davis, 35, a history teacher in New Jersey, on 17 charges for a fight at underage drinking party. They deadlocked on an additonal 7 counts.

A jury deliberated about 12 hours over two days before finding Davis not guilty of 17 charges: two counts of attempted homicide, eight counts of aggravated assault, six counts of simple assault and one count of reckless endangerment. Remaining are four additional counts of aggravated assault, three of simple assault and two of reckless endangerment.

Davis was arrested on June 21, 2006. The defense asked the jurors during closing arguments,

"In the end, ladies and gentlemen, you have to ask the final question," [defense attorney Eric K.] Dowdle said. "Would Christopher Davis have been charged, had his life potentially destroyed, if he had been a white history teacher defending himself with a Swiss army knife against three black men, one of whom was out on parole?"

One victim was cut him in the hip with the knife. Another suffered a stab wound to his abdomen that punctured his stomach and intestines and required surgery. A third had a stab wound on his upper left arm and required surgery, another who was stabbed in the arm also required surgery.
The prosecutor has the option of convening another trial on the unresolved charges. In the meantime, Davis remains in jail. The knife was never found. The trial was in Pennsylvania.
Photo at this news story.

TT - We know our history teachers always carried a knife to an underage drinking party. The tricky part was getting the knife open while being attacked by four men.

CHARGES DROPPED May 8 - The Northampton County District Attorney's office on Monday filed paperwork noting it would drop aggravated assault and other less serious charges that had been in limbo since jurors deadlocked in November.

Pine Knot, KENTUCKY

Time to check those yearbooks.

May 2, 2008 - Troy L. Baird, 31, is on trial for the murder of one woman and the knife attack on four others at a house he allegedly frequented to fuel a cocaine habit.

He was arrested in January 2007 after an argument over drugs. Baird said he had been at the Crabtree residence several times that day to purchase cocaine. He had “done a couple quarters of coke around 5:30 p.m.” that day, but left his parents house to go get more several hours later. At that time, he returned to that house asking for drugs on credit.

Baird told the officer had never been inside the jail and had only once been inside a police car during an educational event at Pine Knot Middle School. He added he was a certified teacher and his five-year struggle with cocaine addiction began after he and his wife divorced.

A principal of Troy Baird’s, as well as a close friend of his grandparents, testified to Troy Baird’s character and “truthfulness and veracity” as the defense closed its case around 3 p.m. Wednesday.
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TT - Kentucky educator records are online and there is a Troy Lee Baird licensed to teach. We do not know if this is the same individual.

Baltimore, MARYLAND

JURY ACQUITS OF ALL CHARGES.

Feb 5, 2007 - Parris McGhee-Bey, 57, a technology/education teacher at Woodlawn High School, has been arrested on charges of sexually abusing a 14-year-old female student from the school.
(Photo: Courtsey of Baltimore County Police Dept.)
McGhee-Bey has been charged with sex abuse of a minor, third- and fourth-degree sex offenses and perverted practice.
Full name: Parris James McGhee-Bey

Feb 23, 2008 - Parris James McGhee-Bey was cleared of all charges. He was acquitted by a jury that deliberated for 2 and 1/2 hours.

McGhee-Bey, the father of 10 children, has been working as an engineer and project manager since leaving Baltimore County public schools.

JURY ACQUITS OF ALL CHARGES.

Campton, KENTUCKY

He may have been found not guilty by one jury, but the grand jury has indicted him again.

May 24, 2007 - Robert Brewer, a third grade teacher at Campton Elementary, has been indicted by a grand jury, accused of sexually abusing two girls under the age of twelve from September of last year to this past April. The mother of one of the victims tells us both girls were in Brewer's class.

Update June 7 - Brewer pleaded not guilty. Brewer is reportedly on paid leave. He'll be back in court in July. (Kinda cavalier coverage but there are 82 comments at the news story of his arrest with more enthusiasm for the news than the tv station.)

THIRD INDICTMENT: August 27 - Court officials say a grand jury handed down a third indictment against Brewer on Friday. Next court appearance is September.

COURT DATES: Sept 6 - Court dates scheduled - pretrial date for October 4 and his trial date for November 27.

NOT GUILTY VERDICT Nov 30 - A jury found Brewer not guilty.

INDICTED AGAIN Feb 22 - 2008 - A grand jury indicted Robert Brewer on a new felony charge of first degree sexual abuse. He has posted bond and will return to court in April.

Napa, CALIFORNIA

JURY FINDS NOT GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES

Sept 13, 2007 - Matthew Shelton, 25, a third-grade teacher at Edison Elementary School, was arrested on misdemeanor sexual abuse charges involving four of his students.

He is charged with four misdemeanor counts of annoying/molesting a child and two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery and reflect inappropriate touching of two 8-year-old and two 9-year-old female student. The molestation is alleged to have occurred in April.

The school district sent arrest forms to the California Commission Teacher Credentials, which will review the case and determine whether to revoke Shelton’s teaching credential.

BIZARRE NOTE:

“We never had any problems with Mr. Shelton while he was a teacher at Phillips Edison. This comes as a real blow to us. The mood of the teachers is very somber. We have had a representative from the California Teacher’s Association talk to the teachers and let them know what support is out there,” [Sharyn] Lindsey, [Napa Valley Unified School District assistant superintendent] said.

Full Name: Matthew Joseph Shelton

NOT GUILTY VERDICT Feb 26 - It took a jury only 20 minutes to find a former Napa third-grade teacher not guilty on six counts of sexual molestation. Last week, after a six-day jury trial, the verdict came in acquitting Matthew Joseph Shelton, 26.

Leroy, ALABAMA

Feb 11, 2008 - The trial of teacher Charlene Schmitz is scheduled to start this week in Mobile, Alabama.

A federal judge granted a prosecution request to bar from the courtroom Leroy High School teachers and others in authority over the now-15-year-old victim when he testifies.

"The victim loves her," Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Murphy told the judge. "The victim doesn't want her to go to jail. The victim thinks that once this is over, they will marry."

Charlene Schmitz is 54.

Henderson, NEVADA

Sentenced - not eligible for parole for 22 years.

ON TRIAL: August 8, 2007 - Mark Zana, 39, a teacher at Lorna J. Kesterson Elementary School, is on trial for molesting several students, including a second grader he taught in 1998. He is charged with nine counts of lewdness and 11 counts of child pornography.

Zana was arrested in September 2005. (Yes, the year is right.) Police began an investigation after a woman in Colorado contacted police there, alleging he had abused her in 1998. By October 6, 2006, it was discovered that Zana had been arrested and convicted in 1993 in Pennsylvania for lewd behavior toward two students. His record was expunged and his record was erased.

In many cases school officials cannot deny an applicant a teaching license for an expunged offense because the offender has, for example, gone through a rehabilitation program, [State Superintendant of Public Instruction Keith ] Rheault said.

Story dated Jul 4, 2006 - News reports show Zana was

arrested in 1998 in connection with an allegation that was nearly identical to some of the allegations in the current criminal case against him, according to court records.
The charge in the 1998 case was dismissed after a family decided it did not want a child to have to testify against Mark Zana. Zana had the records sealed and kept his job with the Clark County School District.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal also found out that three years prior (2003) Zana had hidden a video camera in one of his classrooms. The court records also said that at least one of Zana's fellow teachers said he had taken his concern about Zana touching students to school administrators. The police were not notified.

GUILTY: August 13 - Zana was found guilty on 10 of 21 counts. Those include lewdness with a child and possession of sexual photos of a minor. He will be sentenced Oct 4.

KESQ: Zana was found guilty of 3 felony counts of lewdness with a minor and 6 felony counts of possession of child pornography.

SENTENCING POSTPONED: Sept 12 - A judge has postponed indefinitely the sentencing of Zana while the court investigates possible jury misconduct. The juror reportedly Googled Zana. A new trial is possible.

SENTENCING SCHEDULED Oct 4 - Sentencing has been scheduled for Nov 8.

SENTENCED - Dec 20 -

A former Henderson grade school teacher will spend the next two decades in prison for molesting female students and possessing child pornography.

Mark Zana, who worked at Newton and Kesterson elementary schools, will not be eligible for parole for 22 years. Zana was sentenced Thursday after he made an attempt to get a new trial because one of the jurors researched the case online.

A judge ruled that the violation was not enough to overturn the conviction.

From KSBY6 News: Kane was sentenced to 22 years in prison without parole for molesting female students and possessing child pornography.

From KOLO: (Dec 21) The judge rejected results of a psycho-sexual evaluation that concluded that Zana was unlikely to commit the same offenses, citing allegations of inappropriate contact between Zana and young girls going back 15 years. He sentenced Zana to 22 years to life.

The prosecutor said the evaluator did not know about the previous accusations in 1992 and 1998. Those records were sealed until the jury heard about them. After release, Zana also would face lifetime supervision.

Kelso, WASHINGTON

Dec 18, 2007 - Curtus Metzger, 41, an assistant swim coach at Kelso High School, is on trial, accused of making inappropriate comments to a 16-year-old girl on his team last school year.

BACKGROUND Kelso School District placed Metzger on paid administrative leave Oct. 2, 2006, after the two swim team members accused him of inappropriate behavior occurring sometime between Sept. 26 and 29 last year.In January, he pleaded not guilty after being charged with one count of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. The school district has refused to renew his coaching contract. He was not a teacher at the school.

TAKING THE STAND His wife, Laurie Metzger, took the stand in his defense. She

told jurors that the 18-year-old had an unpredictable personality. Some days she would be well-dressed and bubbly; other days she looked more like the "Unabomber," wearing dark hooded sweatshirts.

Metzger also said many members of the swim team didn't get along with the 16-year-old because she sometimes slacked off during practice.

"She had a few friends on the team over the years," she said. "She was one of those who didn't finish everything she said she had finished."

Laure Metzger as placed on paid administrative leave Oct. 3, 2006, for allegedly breaking a district confidentiality policy by talking to parents and students about the incident, which was under police investigation.

The district also did not renew her coaching contract.

The trial is expected to close today. The jury consisting of two women and four men will then decide the verdict.

Bledsoe, KENTUCKY

Nov 15, 2007 - A jury found Michael Ashley, 41, guilty of third-degree rape and third-degree sodomy for sex with a 14-year-old girl. The jury recommended a six-year sentence.

Ashley was arrested in 2005 when he was accused of having sex with one of his eighth-grade students over the course of four months.

Ashley taught at Harlan County's Green Hills Elementary School.

He will be sentenced Dec 6.

Roseville, MICHIGAN

“We started having sex and I heard a scream say ‘Mom’ and he was downstairs,” said the former student aide, who’s now 18. “I went and hid in her bathroom.”

Nov 8, 2007 - He testified at the pre-trial of French teacher Janelle Batkins. He also claimed that Batkins was once concerned she was pregnant with his child, jealous of his girlfriend and desperate to be with him.

Her lawyer, David Griem, questioned the teen’s credibility and motives. At one point, he read a text message the former aide allegedly sent Batkins that said: “Pay me $5,000 and my mouth is sealed.”The teen’s response: “I was being a 17-year-old boy and acting stupid.”

(The Detroit News reported that he sent that and another e-mail to the teacher's house saying "Your mother is a whore." He exlained that he was trying to break off the relationship.)

The boy also claimed the relationship was consensual and that he was old enough to consent at the time of the affair -- he was 17 at the time. However, Batkins is being tried under a law that says someone in a position of authority cannot have sex with a 17-year-old.

Batkins’ family, friends, former colleagues and students dressed in yellow -- her favorite color --packed one side of the courtroom to support her.

Did we mention that his mother contacted police and that Baskins is married with two sons? And that she's 42-years-old?

TT - Link for Baskins

Bennington, VERMONT

Bolesky died June 18 before he could be tried.

Feb 5, 2007 - Stephen Bolesky, 63, a social studies teacher at Mount Anthony Union High School, is charged with first degree murder for killing his wife, Constance Oxley, a former volunteer librarian at the school, last July 10 by shooting her in the head while she slept. He was indicted by a grand jury on a first-degree murder charge in September.

The Vermont attorney general's office has filed notice that it plans to take over prosecuting the Bolesky case to prevent a conflict of interest. New Bennington County State's Attorney, Erica Albin Marthage, is married to Bolesky's lawyer, Brian Marthage.

Erica Albin Marthage took over the office from former State's Attorney William D. Wright last Thursday following her November election win, ending Wright's 20 year career as the county's prosecutor.

Newspapers are speculating that lawyers are planning an insanity defense.

Update Feb 26 - Lawyers want a local trial. [The judge had planned to move because of renovation of the court.] According to Tartter's motion, the state also wants additional time to prepare because Bolesky's attorney has filed an intent to argue insanity or diminished capacity.

Bolesky had surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor last year but Wesley ruled in October Bolesky was competent to stand trial.Bolesky is being held without bail at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield.

TRIAL DATE SCHEDULED Apr 19 - A trial date has been scheduled to begin Jul 16.

RELEASED INTO HOSPICE May 24 - A judge released Bolesky, allowing him to be placed in a long-term medical facility where he is expected to receive end-of-life care

DEATH and ESTATE CHALLENGED Oct 12 - Bolesky died June 18 before he could be tried for the shooting of his wife. A judge has frozen his estate while his wife's sister pursues a wrongful death complaint.

Springfield, MISSOURI

Principal was acquitted and charges were dropped against the teacher.

Sept 10, 2007 -
Carolyn Harralson, the principal at Rountree Elementary School, is scheduled to go on trial Monday on charges she failed to report allegations of child abuse.

Harralson is accused of not calling a state child abuse hotline after being told that gym teacher Mark Washam had inappropriate contact with several students.

A Department of Social Services investigation found evidence that Harralson knew about the allegations at least a month before someone else called the hotline in March 2006. She was removed as principal in June.

The teacher, Mark Washam, was charged at the same time as Harralson, faces four counts of misdemeanor sexual misconduct and five counts of third- degree assault, also a misdemeanor.

The failure to report is a MISDEMEANOR, which could result in up to a year in jail and up to $1,000 in fines. Harralson is still employed by the school district.

Nov 2 - Charges against Mark Washam were dropped. And Principal Carolyn Harralson was acquitted by a jury of charges that she violated the state's mandated reporter law. Found in an editorial entitled, "Mandated reporting law needs to change." The newspaper advocates "decriminalizing" mandated reporting laws. Their point is that mandated reporters fear prosecution and inundate the hot line.

With the specter of criminal prosecution hanging over their heads, too many mandated reporters ignore the professional judgment they learned from years of training and instead blindly follow a law they find harmful.

TT - Does that last make sense at all? Mandated reporting laws are harmful to children or teachers? What professional judgement? By comparison, the comments at the news story were thoughtful.

I agree that juries often do not uphold the spirit or intent of the law because for reasons outside of the expectations of "the law"- but this does not mean the law in and of itself is a failure....perhaps it is the attitude we have toward our shared responsibilities to each other to hold each other accountable for not turning a blind eye to true abuse that needs to change.

One asked, "So you think "decriminalizing" a failure to report suspected cases of abuse will increase reporting? "

Stockton, CALIFORNIA

Sept 6, 2007 -
Ernie Roxas, Sr., 54, Stockton Unified School District coach, is on trial, charged with sexually abused a girl for several years while she lived with his family.

The girl, now 25, accused Roxas in 1999. At that time, he retired from the school district and moved to Las Vegas. No charges were filed against him until the victim went to police years later. He was arrested earlier this year in Las Vegas, and was sent back to San Joaquin County.

GUILTY VERDICT: Sept 10 - A jury convicted Roxas of of eight counts, including lewd acts on a child, rape and the continual sexual abuse of a child.

A 25-year-old woman who is a relative of Roxas and testified as Corina Doe, rather than use her real surname, said she lived with Roxas' family from the ages of 9 to 17 and that Roxas had sex with her more than 40 times.

Roxas will be sentenced October 22.

Oct 23 - His attorney wants a new trial, alleging juror misconduct. Judge to consider the motion.

Chattanooga, TENNESSEE

- Sentenced to 20 years each.


- At the sentencing hearing, the state introduced proof that another son of the Nunns died under suspicious circumstances.

Jury found them guilty of aggravated child abuse of their 9-month old son that left him severely impaired.

TRIAL BEGINS: May 15, 2007 - The trial of Derrell Nunn, 28, a teacher at Hardy Elementary School, and his wife Jamila Nunn, began with jury selection.

The couple are accused of abusing their son. charged with aggravated child abuse after calling paramedics because Derrell "D.J." Nunn Jr., then 9 months old, was having trouble breathing in September 2002.

According to records, the child was bleeding in his brain and eyes and had a lacerated liver when he was admitted to the hospital. Authorities said the child also had several fractured bones that were several weeks old.

Update May 17 - Derrell Nunn Sr., and his wife, Jamila Nunn, both told Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood they did not want to take the witness stand.

The parents both denied harming the child.

The father said he got the child up at 6:20 that morning and found he was having trouble breathing as he started to take him to daycare at 7:10.

Prosecutor Patterson said, "Their story is medically impossible."

He said the child had not been to daycare for the past two weeks. He said it was found at the hospital that the child had massive swelling of the brain. He said, "The little boy's brain was literally falling apart."The prosecutor said the child had a skull fracture as well as fractures of the wrist and leg that all were in various stages of healing.

He said doctors found that the child's liver was almost sliced in two and he had lacerations to the pancreas and bruises to the kidneys.Despite all the internal damage, attorney Ripper said the child "didn't have a mark on him."

Closing arguments are expected tomorrow.

GUILTY VERDICT: May 18 - A jury sitting in Hamilton County Criminal Court today found a former Hardy Elementary School teacher and his wife guilty of the aggravated child abuse of their 9-month old son.

The child now lives in Alabama, can only speak a few words, and requires a breathing tube.

SENTENCED: August 13 - Both Derrell Nunn Sr. and Jamila Nunn were sentenced to 20 years in prison. At the sentencing hearing, the state introduced proof that another son of the Nunns died under suspicious circumstances.

A detective from Irondale, Ala., said police are still investigating a case in which Derrell Nunn allegedly fell down a staircase while holding an infant son.

That child died. Police said Darrell Nunn was found lying at the bottom of the staircase after police were summoned. An officer said a coroner's report found that the infant child had previous injuries.

August 14 - Police in Alabama are reopening their investigation of the death of the Nunn's 1-month-old son in 2002. The boy died when his father reported falling down stairs, dropping the boy and then landing on him. The Nunns were indicted in 2003, after which they moved to Tennessee.