Teacher's Conviction Overturned on Appeal - Updated

(Santa Ana, California) Citing extreme prejudice on the part of prosecution witnesses, state appellate court judges overturned the conviction of Carlie Rose Attebury.

Judges said Thursday the lower court's jury was wrongly swayed by testimony from three former students who had legal sex with band director Carlie Rose Attebury after they had graduated.

City News Service reports that Orange County prosecutors will review the ruling and decide whether to seek a new trial.

Further action, if any, remains to be decided.

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California Teacher Gets Prison in Sex Case - Updated
[Previous 3/5/11 post]
(Santa Ana, California) For sex with a 15-year-old student, Carlie Rose Attebury, 31, has been sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.

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California Teacher Guilty in Sex Case - Updated
[Previous 11/25/10 post bumped]
(Santa Ana, California) Former band director Carlie Rose Attebury, 31, was convicted by a jury yesterday on one count of unlawful sexual intercourse, two counts of oral copulation of a minor under 16, and one count of sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor.

Deputy District Attorney Katherine David was happy with the decision.

The turning point in the trial, David said, was a record of text messages that Attebury and the victim sent to each other between June 21 and Oct. 1, 2008. In that span, Attebury sent 9,315 texts and the victim sent 10,626.

"I feel like the text message sealed the deal with the jury," David said. "If we didn't have the text messages, we may not have won."

Attebury was emotional throughout the trial, crying whenever the charges were mentioned, David said.

Sentencing is scheduled for January 7.

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California Teacher on Trial in Sex Case - Updated
[Previous 11/14/10 previous]
(Orange County, California) Tomorrow, 31-year-old teacher Carlie Rose Attebury goes on trial in a Santa Ana courtroom.

Attebury faces two felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, one felony count of lewd acts on a child, two felony counts of oral copulation of a minor under 16, one felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor, and one felony count of dissuading a witness from reporting a crime.

If convicted, a seven-year prison sentence is possible. It's reported that Attebury claims she loves the boy and wants to get married.

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Music Teacher Accused of Sex with Boy
[Previous 11/1/08 post]
(Orange County, California) A 29-year-old music teacher at El Modena High School, Carlie Rose Attebury, has been arrested and charged with sexual misconduct with a male student, 15 or 16 years old.

Attebury has been charged with multiple felony counts including unlawful sex and dissuading a witness from reporting a crime.

After her initial arrest, Attebury was released on $50,000 bond.

Leading up to today, she had been on paid leave. But today, the Orange Unified School District changed Attebury's status to unpaid leave, according to a district official.

Deputy District Attorney Susan Kang Schroeder said the charges stemmed from two encounters with one student. The first encounter is alleged to have occurred in February and the second in April, according to the district attorney's Web site.

Attebury is currently free on bond.