Lawyers claim teacher’s rights were violated
Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008
BENTONVILLE - Attorneys for a former Bentonville High School teacher claim her arrest for having sex with an 18-year-old student violates her constitutional rights.
Earlier this month, Melissa Gayle Monroe's attorneys filed a motion seeking to declare the state law p r o h i b i t i n g public school teachers from engaging in sexual contact with students younger than 21 as unconstitutional.
Melissa Gayle Monroe, 32, of Bella Vista, is charged with sexual assault in the second degree, a class B felony; and four counts of knowingly furnishing or selling alcohol to a minor, a class C misdemeanor. A class B felony is punishable with a prison sentence ranging from five to 20 years, a fine up to $ 15, 000 or both. A class C misdemeanor is punishable with up to 30 days in jail, a fine up to $ 100 or both.
Monroe is accused of having sexual intercourse with an 18-year-old student on Jan. 26 and providing him alcohol on four separate occasions. The sexual encounter allegedly occurred on the night of the student's 18 th birthday.
Monroe was arrested because of her position of authority as the teenager's teacher. Arkansas law specifies it is a crime for a public-school teacher to engage in sexual contact with a student younger than 21.
The statute under which Monroe is charged states that a person commits sexual assault in the second degree if the person is a teacher in a public school - kindergarten through 12 th grade - and engages in sexual contact with another person who is a student enrolled in the public school and is less than 21 years of age.
Monroe's attorneys - Conrad Odom and Alan Lane - claim in their motion that the law is unconstitutional because it violates their client's right to privacy and the right of equal protection under the law that's guaranteed by both the U. S. Constitution and the Arkansas Constitution.
The motion states that the U. S. Supreme Court has found that the right of privacy protected by the Constitution encompasses the right of two consenting adults to engage in private, noncommercial sexual activity.
The sexual-assault statute is unconstitutional as applied to Monroe's case and as applied to the private, consensual, noncommercial acts of sexual intimacy between adults, the motion states. The motion agrees that the state has a compelling interest in protecting minor students from having sexual contact with teachers, but that interest does not justifies prohibiting two adults from engaging in a private, noncommercial and consensual relationship.
The statute prohibits all sexual contact between a 22-year-old kindergarten teacher and a 21-year-old male high-school senior in the same public school system, according to the motion. However, the same statute would not criminalize a 22-year-old preschool teacher in the same public school system from engaging in private, noncommercial and consensual sexual contact with the same 21-year-old male high-school senior that was enrolled in that school system, according to court documents. The statute also would not prohibit private, noncommercial and nonconsensual sexual contact between a 40-year-old male high-school principal and an 18-year-old female senior in the same school, the motion states.
The motion also questions why the law distinguishes public-school teachers from private-school teachers.
The motion claims the statute arbitrarily criminalizes the behavior of publicschool teachers in grades K-12 while allowing other school employees, privateschool teachers and other professions to engage in the same behavior free from criminal culpability.
The motion wants the court to declare the law unconstitutional and then dismiss the charges against Monroe.
Circuit Judge David Clinger previously scheduled a hearing on the issue for 1: 30 p.m. Aug. 14.
Police launched an investigation after Bentonville High School Principal Steve Jacoby reported to school resource officer Steve Vera that a teacher was possibly having an inappropriate relationship with one of her students. Court documents show Jacoby learned of the allegations from another teacher.
The teacher told Vera that Monroe had text-messaged and telephoned her in regard to having sex with a student, according to court documents.
Bentonville police detective Mark Jordan interviewed the student, who said Monroe had been his teacher for three years.
The student said he went to Monroe's home, where he drank beer and wine, according to an affidavit in the case. The student said he and Monroe had sex in her bedroom, court documents state.
Monroe was arrested Feb. 19. When questioned by Jordan, Monroe initially denied the allegations but later admitted to having sex with the student, court documents state.
Monroe has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
She taught math in the Bentonville School District for seven years.
She was terminated from her position following her arrest.
She was released from the Benton County Jail after posting $ 5, 000 bond.
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