Former Colorado School Official Acquitted Of Sex Assault
DENVER (AP) - A Denver jury on Tuesday acquitted a former Colorado school official of four counts of sexual assault of a child, the Denver District Attorney's Office said.
Jason Martinez, whose initial proceedings ended in a mistrial eight months ago, had been hired last year by New Mexico's largest school district despite being charged with sexually abusing two young boys.
Martinez still faces two counts of assault against two men in an unrelated case, District Attorney spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough said in an email to The Associated Press on Tuesday. He is out on bond and scheduled to appear in a Denver court in August in that case.
The outcry over Martinez's hiring in New Mexico after an incomplete background check there led Albuquerque's superintendent to resign. Martinez quit as head of Albuquerque's instruction and technology division.
Martinez worked for Denver Public Schools for 10 years, ending in 2012. He was arrested in Denver in 2013 and freed on bond conditions that included he stay in Colorado. A Denver judge increased his bail and ordered him to wear an ankle monitor pending trial following the Albuquerque job controversy.
The abuse allegations were not connected to Martinez's school employment in Colorado. Martinez was a close friend of the boys' families, and prosecutors allege he abused them during visits to his Denver home and on trips. Prosecutors said the children were targets for abuse because they came from broken homes.
Defense attorneys had said the case was based on lies and inconsistencies.
The accusations arose after the 6-year-old son of a man Martinez adopted came to stay with him in Denver in May 2013. Martinez had confronted the boy's mother because he was concerned about the boy's living conditions back home.
After the visit, the boy told his mother that Martinez abused him, prosecutors said. The second boy then came forward with similar accusations.
A jury deliberated for about 2½ days during the initial trial before telling the judge they could not reach a unanimous verdict.
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