LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Nevada Supreme Court threw out a kidnapping conviction against a former Clark County teacher who was found guilty by a jury in 2016 for having a sexual relationship with a student.
The majority of the 19-year sentence was tied to the two counts of kidnapping for taking her to a hotel, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The teacher was also convicted of 10 counts of sexual misconduct.
The court agreed with Jason Lofthouse’s attorneys, who had argued that prosecutors overreached when they charged Lofthouse with kidnapping, because his 2015 relationship with the 17-year-old student was consensual.
“We conclude that the statutory language is not aimed broadly at any crime that merely involves a minor,” Justice Lidia Stiglich said in the unanimous 13-page decision released Thursday. “Interpreting the language in (the kidnapping statute) to include any crime involving a minor would expand an already broad kidnapping statute beyond what is reasonable, leading to absurd results.”
The now 37-year-old former Rancho High School teacher was arrested in June 2015 after being caught in a locked classroom with the teen, authorities said.
While the age of consent in Nevada is 16, state law prohibits sexual contact between school employees above age 21 and students under 18.
“Because the statute is indifferent regarding the student’s actual consent or the offender’s actual exploitation of the student, we conclude that it is the offender’s status that is the gravamen of the offense outlined” in the sexual conduct law, the decision said.
The girl initially denied the relationship. But she later told her parents and police that she and the teacher were involved in a sexual relationship, prosecutors said.
Deputy Public Defender William Waters was not immediately available for comment. Chief Deputy District Attorney Stacy Kollins declined to comment on the decision.
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