A former high school physical education teacher accused of having sex with 5 male students is changing her plea from not guilty to not guilty by reason of insanity.
Stacy Schuler, 33, of Springboro, Ohio, had been indicted on 16 counts of sexual battery and three counts of offenses involving underage persons.
She allegedly had sexual relations at her home with the five students, mostly football players at the high school, on five separate occasions from August to December of 2010.
Schuler’s attorney, Charlie Rittgers, said his client became “impaired and thereby unable to prevent the young men from taking advantage of her.”
Rittgers said the young men involved in the case traveled across Warren County to take advantage of this unspecified impairment.
“Stacy Schuler’s defense from a legal standpoint is based upon her inability to protect herself from the young men involved in this case,” Rittgers said in a statement.
Her lawyer says the plea change was not a defense tactic. He said: ‘It’s something I believe to be true.’
Under Ohio law, a person is considered insane if they are suffering from a mental defect and doesn’t know right from wrong.
Phillabaum said only 2% of all defendants file an insanity plea, and only a third of those are successful.
“Most of those cases are usually in some type of violent crime or something of that nature,” Phillabaum said. “Having a sex crime is pretty rare.”
Schuler was scheduled to go on trial in May, but her attorneys asked for more time to prepare her case. It is now scheduled for Aug. 8.
Schuler resigned shortly after she was indicted. She remains free on bond and is on house arrest at her parents’ home. BMS
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