‘SEX TEACH’ FREED (‘Molester’ out on bail pending new trial)

Marci Stein, a 32-year-old respected special education teacher, was fired as a result of rumors about oral sex in classrooms, steamy love making at the teacher's home and even young boys performing sex acts in front of video cameras.  She was charged with statutory rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, unlawfully dealing with a child and endangering the welfare of a child.  The Hendrick Hudson HS teachers' lawyer, Jonathan Lovett, denies the sex charges.  He said Stein first heard the stories when some female students approached her.  She went that day and told the principal what was being said.  How many criminals do you know who report their crimes?, Lovett said.  The school district said in a statement, Its investigation of the event that led to both Ms. Stein's separation from the District and her criminal indictment were properly handled, and that the district is confident that Ms. Stein's attempt to blame the district and her students for her current dilemma will not withstand the scrutiny of the litigation process.   The fate of Marci Stein was in the hands of a jury which heard her described as both a schoolhouse seductress and an innocent victim of vicious lies.  Stein spent nearly three years in prison after being convicted of having sex with the underage students and is free on bail now after an appellate court ruled that she deserved a new trial.  Bail was set at $10,000 and she was told she could walk after spending 33 months at women's prison outside of Buffalo.  A four-judge panel of the state's Appellate Division ruled last week that Stein did not receive a fair trial because prosecutors didn't tell the defense that two of the students in the case had filed notices of claim to sue the school district.  The panel ruled that information was relevant to the students' credibility.  

(New York)