Concord Teacher Retrial: Does 'Weird' Touching of Students Constitute Molestation?

One of the central questions facing a jury in the retrial of a former Concord elementary schoolteacher is whether or not putting hands down adolescent boys’ shirts constitutes sexual intent, a prosecutor said today.

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Joseph Martin, 46, faces more than 20 counts of child molestation involving nine male victims.

He first faced a jury trial last summer and was initially charged with 150 counts of lewd and lascivious acts against 14 male students.

The jury acquitted Martin of the allegations for three of the victims and could not come to a consensus on the remaining 11. The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office dismissed more than 70 of the 150 counts against Martin following the August mistrial.

In his closing arguments today at the A.F. Bray Court Building, Deputy District Attorney Derek Butts admitted the allegations were “minor compared to what you would expect a child molester would do.”

[Previous: Contra Costa DA To Re-Try Concord Teacher Accused Of Molestation.]

Martin is accused of developing inappropriate relationships with students, often beginning in the fourth or fifth grades, that involved him putting his hands under students’ shirts, on their chests and sometimes rubbing their nipples.

In one instance, Martin is accused of rubbing a student’s thighs under his shorts.

“This is a really weird pattern of behavior,” Butts said.

[Previous: Update From Martinez Court on Concord Teacher’s Acquittal of Some Charges; Jury Hung on Others.]

Weird or not, Butts said the jury must follow the law, which states that any touching of a sexual nature, no matter how severe, constitutes molestation for children under the age of 14.

Butts painted a picture of a teacher who would befriend certain students and often invite them over to his house, with their parents’ consent. On at least one occasion, Martin allegedly massaged one student in his bedroom.

“That’s so beyond the bounds of what’s appropriate,” Butts said. “That was his M.O. (modus operandi), that’s what he knew he could get away with.”

Butts also described a support group that Martin attended called For Men Only, a men’s church group dedicated to sex addiction therapy.

Martin initially told the court he went in by mistake and then recognized some people in the group, too embarrassed to admit his error.

Butts rejected that reasoning and said Martin kept returning because he was suffering from an “unfortunate” sexual attraction to young boys.

Martin’s wife, Jennifer Martin, said she was “in shock” when she first heard the allegations against her husband of six and a half years.

“He’s not what they say he’s accused of,” Jennifer Martin said. “I don’t believe (the charges) at all.”

Jennifer Martin described her husband as a dedicated teacher with students who love him.

During the trial, several of the alleged victims also described Joseph Martin as their favorite teacher who would use interactive plays and games to hold the students’ attention.

“He is excellent at class management,” Jennifer Martin said, adding she had sat in on his classes on several occasions. “He can turn a class from chaos to calm in an instant. It’s really wonderful to watch.”

Jennifer Martin was joined by family and close friends in the courtroom. She said the experience, including the first trial and then the retrial, has been “the hardest experience of (her) life.”

“When he was acquitted the first time, we really didn’t think there would be a second trial,” Jennifer Martin said.

She said she couldn’t wait for the trial to be over, “especially if it ends in acquittal.”

Jennifer and Joseph Martin have two girls, aged two and three and a half, she said.

Defense attorney Patrick Clancy is expected to deliver his closing argument on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. in Dept. 2016 of the A.F. Bray Court Building, 1020 Ward St. in Martinez.

--Bay City News

--Image via Shutterstock

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