Attorney: Petite Female Tutor Couldn't Have Coerced Athlete to Have Sex

An attorney for a former Catholic school tutor who could spend life in prison on charges she had sex with a 15-year-old boy will try to convince the jury that authorities got it wrong and that she’s the victim.

Jury selection began Monday in the Kent Circuit Court trial of Abigail Marie Simon, 35, of Grand Blanc, The Grand Rapids Press/MLive reports. She is charged with four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes.

Both sides had expected to reach a plea deal, but Kent County Assistant Prosecutor Helen Brinkman refused to lower the felony charges against Simon.

Attorney Michael Manley – a high profile lawyer from Flint who has advocated for his clients on national television programs such as “Dateline,” “20/20,” “Today,” “CBS This Morning” and others – is expected to argue that the teen, now 16, forced her to have sex after she rebuffed him.

Simon, formerly a tutor at Catholic Central High School, was hired to help the football player improve his flagging grades. The teen testified this summer that he is in love with Simon, and that he is the one who insisted they have sex during the tutoring sessions, which lasted from February to April 2012. He has said he doesn’t think she should be prosecuted.

Manley is expected to portray the teen, a 6 foot, 3 inch, 220-pound football player, as sexually aggressive and given to violence. He allegedly threatened to hurt himself if Simon rejected him. A prior victim of domestic assault, Simon is susceptible to coercion in a relationship, her attorney argues.

On Monday, both sides argued what evidence should be allowed when the trial resumes on Wednesday, WOOD-TV reports. Manley wants jurors to see tweets he says show a “locker room mentality,” but Brinkman argued they should be excluded because most weren’t made by the teen.

Brinkman also defended the Grand Rapids police investigation, which Manley portrayed as “one-sided, immediate, improper (and) incompetent.”

Related:

• Police: Fired Catholic School Teacher Had Sex with Student
• Teacher Faces Life in Prison for Allegedly Having Sex with Seventh Grader

Brinkman counters that the defense strategy is nothing more than blaming the victim.

The state reportedly has photographic evidence showing the two together. Chief Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Christopher Becker told the Michigan Sex Crime Attorneys Blog in January that the evidence against Simon is strong.

“I’ve never had a case where there is a photo of the victim of a rape dressed in lingerie wrapped around her rapist,” he said, adding that Simon allegedly sent sexually provocative photos to the victim. She tutored the teen beginning in 2012 and allegedly had a sexual relationship with him from February through April.

The case gained national notoriety as an alleged example of teachers sexually preying on teen students.

Simon was fired from her job as a tutor and study hall supervisor after the teen’s mother found pictures of her in a garter belt on her son’s phone, according to a report in The Daily Mail.

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Screenshot via WOOD-TV