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GATLIN MISTRIAL: NEW TRIAL PLANNED FOR JANUARY

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 8:43 AM CST

Citing an insufficient number of jurors, Circuit Judge Rob Wyatt Jr. Tuesday declared a mistrial in the case of a former teacher in the Watson Chapel School District accused of touching female students inappropriately.

Robert Michael Gatlin, 45, of Rison, was scheduled for trial on six counts of second-degree sexual assault and had pleaded innocent.

January trial planned

Gatlin is free after posting a $10,000 bond shortly after his arrest, and is under court orders to stay away from school property and have no contact with any of the students named in the allegations.

Prosecutors plan to retry the case in January. If convicted, he could be sentenced to between five and 20 years in prison on each of the six counts.

Tuesday’s mistrial came after almost half the potential jurors were eliminated after they said they had heard or read about the case or knew one or more of the alleged victims.

“We’re disappointed that we were not able to proceed at this time but as frequently happens in cases where a large number of witnesses are involved, it’s difficult to find enough people who don’t know one of those witnesses,” Prosecuting Attorney Steve Dalrymple said about the mistrial.

Potential witnesses included children

Deputy prosecutors Karres Manning and Cymber Gieringer, who were representing the state, had prepared a list of 26 potential witnesses, 15 of them juveniles.

The allegations involved both the spring and fall 2008 semesters at Coleman Intermediate School and the students were interviewed by an investigator from the State Police Crimes Against Families and Children’s Unit while police detectives talked to other faculty members at the school.

Gatlin was suspended by the school district, then fired Nov. 10, 2008.

In addition to the allegations involving the students, the notice from the district to Gatlin alleged he “repeatedly touched female employees in inappropriate ways that caused them to feel offended or feel uncomfortable, including touching their hips and buttocks.

Last week, Wyatt ruled that prosecutors could not present evidence that Gatlin was fired from the Kingsland School District for allegedly touching female students inappropriately.

Manning had sought to introduce that testimony as evidence of a pattern of behavior.

At the same time, the judge denied a request from Gatlin’s attorney, Keith Hall of the Public Defender’s Office, to separate the charges against Gatlin, and conducting separate trials on all six allegations.

In October, Wyatt agreed to a continuance at the request of Hall, who said he had not received all the information he needed to defend Gatlin.

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