A former Missouri teacher previously accused of having sex with a male student has married him, and prosecutors have dropped their case, according to a report.
Baylee Turner, now 26, was working as a first-year English teacher at Sarcoxie High School in Sarcoxie, MO, when she allegedly had sexual intercourse with a male student during the week of January 14-21, 2019, the Joplin Globe reports. Before working at the high school, she taught at a middle school in the district for two years.
In February of 2019, she was charged “with having sexual contact with one of her male students after an investigation by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department,” according to the outlet.
She resigned from her teaching position after she was charged, per previous reporting from the Joplin Globe.
An affidavit said Turner admitted to having intercourse with the student, according to the outlet.
The district’s school board voted to petition the state to revoke her teaching license.
Assistant Prosecutor Nat Dally, who was working on the case, told the Joplin Globe the charge was dismissed because Turner and the student married and now have marital or spousal privileges. Now that prosecutors cannot compel the student to testify under spousal privileges, the case is much more difficult to prosecute, according to Dally.
He noted that a primary concern of prosecutors was to revoke her teaching license, which she has forfeited.
The student’s age was not disclosed in the probable cause affidavit, but it is against Missouri law for school district employees, volunteers, or officials, to engage in sexual relations with students regardless of whether a student is of consensual age, the Joplin Globe reports.
Turner was facing up to four years in prison, the Springfield News-Leader reported.
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