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Logan County music teacher who had sex with students loses appeal

JESSICA SHAMBAUGH
Special to the Legal News

Published: September 22, 2014

A former Logan County high school band and choir teacher lost his appeal recently when the 3rd District Court of Appeals affirmed his convictions for sexual battery and gross sexual imposition involving his students.

John Timothy Shook, who taught at Riverside High School in De Graff when the accusations arose, appealed his convictions from the Logan County Common Pleas Court and argued that it erred by refusing his request to sever his indictments and by allowing evidence of prior bad acts.

Shook was indicted for various sexual crimes in March 2013 after three of his high school students accused him of engaging in sexual contact.

Prior to trial, he requested that “prior bad acts” evidence, including testimony from students from another school at which he had previously worked, be excluded.

The state argued that the testimony would establish Shook’s plan, motive, intent or preparation and the trial court denied Shook’s request.

Shook then filed a motion to sever the indictment.

He claimed the charges related to two of the girls differed from the charges concerning the third.

The trial court, however, disagreed and ruled that the charges would all be heard in a single trial.

During that trial, E.P. testified as the first victim.

She said she was a student in Shook’s band and choir classes, was a member of Shook’s marching band, worked as a band aide, babysat Shook’s children and kept the scorebook for his junior high basketball team.

She told the court that Shook first showed interest in her in his office, where he asked her to sit on his lap and read an email.

While she was on his lap, she said he started touching her legs and vagina. She was 16 at the time.

E.P. testified that the sexual advances progressed and she eventually lost her virginity to Shook.

She recalled multiple incidents of vaginal and oral sex that took place throughout the school and at Shook’s home.

She said she was able to specifically recall dates and locations because she recorded them in her journals, which were also introduced as evidence.

The next victim, L.K., testified that she wanted to learn clarinet to join Shook’s marching band.

She started taking lessons in Shook’s office in the summer of 2012 and after only the second lesson she said Shook put his arm around her and touched her butt.

After the next lesson, she said he again touched her butt and her breasts.

L.K. said she tried to pull away but was unable to Shook was “stronger.”

She said during the next lesson Shook put his hands down her pants and touched her vagina.

After that, L.K. stopped taking lessons and quit the marching band.

A third victim, K.W., testified that she was also in Shook’s band and choir classes.

She said Shook gave her a ride home multiple times and started touching her leg during the ride. Later, in Shook’s office, she said he spanked her with his bare hand and grabbed her breast.

The state also presented evidence from two Covington students who claimed to have had sex with Shook when he was a band instructor at their school.

The jury found Shook guilty of six counts of sexual battery, five counts of gross sexual imposition, and one count of attempted sexual battery.

The trial court sentenced him to an aggregate term of 7 1/2 years in prison and he appealed to the Third District.

In his first assignment of error, Shook argued that the trial court should have granted his motion to sever the indictment because the crimes varied temporally and because the crimes against L.K. and K.W. differed from those against E.P.

The three-judge appellate panel first noted that the law favors joining offenses whenever possible to save on resources and to prevent inconveniences for the victims and witnesses.

In Shook’s case, the trial court held that the testimony of each of the victims would be admissible in each other’s trials and that the testimony would be straight forward so as not to confuse the jury.

The appellate panel upheld those findings and further found error with Shook’s claims on appeal.

“Shook’s claim that the crimes varied temporally is not necessarily supported by the record either,” Judge Stephen Shaw wrote for the court, noting that each of the crimes took places between December 2011 and January 2013.

The judges found that the crimes were also similar in that they all included similarly aged and situated victims and that they all took place at the school.

“Thus Shook’s arguments that the crimes were dissimilar have no merit,” Shaw stated, dismissing the first assignment of error.

Shook then argued that the trial court should not have permitted the Covington students to testify because it constituted prior bad acts testimony that was irrelevant to his charges involving the Riverside students.

Upon review of the record, the appellate panel found that the trial court properly instructed the jury that the Covington students’ testimony could not be used to show Shook’s character and could only be used to show that he had a purpose, motive, plan or scheme.

His defense counsel made similar statements during closing arguments.

“As we presume that the jury followed the court’s instructions, we find any potential prejudice severely limited in this case,” Judge Shaw stated.

The judges further found that the jury was already aware of some of the content of the Covington testimony because E.P. testified that she knew Shook had left his prior job after having sexual relations with a girl at that school.

After overruling each of Shook’s arguments, judges Vernon Preston and Richard Rogers joined Judge Shaw to affirm Shook’s convictions.

The case is cited State v. Shook, 2014-Ohio-3987.

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