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Ex-teacher convicted of having sex with student loses appeal Thursday, May 29, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the conviction of a former Greenwood school teacher who was convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old student. The court affirmed 40-year-old Deanna Bobo's September 2006 conviction in Sebastian County Circuit Court on two counts of first-degree sexual assault. Prosecutors said Bobo had sex with the male student on two occasions while she was a teacher at Raymond G. Wells Junior High School in 2005. Bobo was sentenced to two consecutive six-year prison terms but was allowed to remain free pending her appeal. The appeals court rejected Bobo's argument that the judge at her trial erred in allowing the testimony of witnesses who said they saw the student touch Bobo on the breast at school. The court said the touching demonstrated an intimacy between the two. "This antecedent sexual conduct further corroborated (the boy's) testimony that he and Bobo were later sexually involved," Judge Larry Vaught wrote for the appeals court. Bobo also argued the judge was wrong in admitting into evidence e-mails, some of them sexually explicit, that prosecutors said were exchanged between Bobo and the 14-year-old, and that the court erred in permitting the jury to hear, in Bobo's recorded statement, her request for a lawyer. She contended the e-mails should not have been admitted because the state did not properly authenticate them. The e-mails presented at trial were not the original e-mails but forwarded versions which could have been tampered with, she argued. The appellate court said there was sufficient evidence to support a finding that the e-mails were authentic, including testimony by the 14-year-old that the e-mails were exchanged between him and Bobo and testimony from the boy's mother that she discovered the e-mails on the family computer. Forensic evidence also supported a finding that the e-mails were authentic, the court said. In permitting the jury to hear her request for a lawyer, Bobo said the trial court violated her Fifth Amendment right not to testify against herself. The Court of Appeals declined to consider the argument, saying it was not raised at trial. Bobo was accused separately of engaging in sexual activity with another minor male student, but charges in that case were dropped after her accuser, who had joined the military, told prosecutors in December 2006 he preferred to continue serving in Iraq rather than return to appear in court. The Greenwood School District suspended Bobo in November 2005 and later voted not to renew her contract. The state Board of Education revoked Bobo's teaching license in January. |
