Jury Clears Cda Teacher Of Sex Abuse District Still Faces Civil Claims, A Divided School

Paul Mather walked out of the courtroom Friday, hugging supporters as he went.

After five hours of deliberation, a jury declared both the teacher - and his hugs - innocent.

“Clearly, Paul touched his students,” defense attorney Tim Gresback told the jury during closing arguments Friday. But, “the way in which Paul would touch his students was wholesome, not felonious. He hugged in the open for the whole world to see.”

The jury of five women and seven men agreed. After a five-day trial, they found the Canfield Middle School teacher not guilty of two charges he sexually abused 13- and 14-year-old girls.

A jubilant Mather left the courtroom crying and smiling, surrounded by his family, students and friends. He and his supporters declined to comment.

But the jury’s verdict devastated both the students who accused Mather and their parents. “These are 13-year-old girls. They’re not supposed to know about breast-touching,” said one tearful parent. “They are tormented.”

Parents said Friday after the verdict that they believe Mather was acquitted because the jury was not allowed to hear evidence he was previously accused of having sex with a teenager.

According to police reports, in 1989 Mather had sex with a 16-year-old girl he met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. The case never went to court after the girl decided not to press charges.

This week’s trial has divided Canfield Middle School, pitting Mather’s accusers - star pupils - against teachers and students who support him. And it has left the school district facing two civil claims, with a controversial decision: whether to allow Mather back into the classroom.

Five girls, three of whom were Mather’s classroom aides, testified the 49-year-old man would hug them tightly, pressing his body against theirs last spring. Sometimes crying, they said he would touch their breasts and buttocks or rub their thighs.

But the geography teacher testified that he did not touch them inappropriately. He said his hugs were merely a means of showing that he cared.

Gresback argued that the girls - going through the confusion of puberty - misunderstood Mather’s intentions.

“Did Paul suddenly change in the spring of 1996 or did the girls’ perception change?” Gresback asked Friday during closing arguments. “These girls were becoming women. Students this age have a difficult time with perception.”

Several teachers and students took the stand on behalf of Mather, who had taught at Canfield since 1988.

They said Mather, previously voted “Teacher of the Year,” was a naturally affectionate person who the students flocked to for hugs.

“This has not been a case about hugs,” chief deputy prosecutor Lansing Haynes told the jury Friday. “If hugging was the only thing the defendant had done, we would not all be here.”

Haynes argued that Mather’s popularity gave him the opportunity for “perverted groping.”

But Gresback took issue with the students’ stories. “They keep changing like a ripple in a pond,” he said.

Relatives of the girls said Friday the ordeal has been traumatic for the teens.

“She’s a lot less trusting,” said a family member of one girl. “She’s had everything ranging from sleep problems to stomach problems and headaches.”

One parent has filed a civil claim against the district for not removing Mather from the school years ago. Meanwhile, Mather, whose teaching and coaching careers have been nearly destroyed by the accusations, has filed a civil claim against the district for suspending him. He has been on paid suspension since last spring.

Despite repeated requests from the prosecutor, Judge Gary Haman would not allow testimony about the 1989 investigation of rape into this week’s trial. Haman was concerned it would hamper Mather’s right to a fair trial.

Police reports show that Coeur d’Alene school officials knew about the allegations but did not remove Mather from the school.

“The girls wouldn’t have gone through this if the school district had done its job in 1989,” said a parent.

What happens next is up to Coeur d’Alene school Superintendent Doug Cresswell. If he decides Mather should be removed permanently, Cresswell will have to take the request to the school board. The board will then act as jury - although the burden of proof will be lower than in a criminal trial.

Cresswell said he has not decided what he will do.

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