Former Ohio high school swim coach Eric Spaulding has been found not guilty of sexual battery.
Spaulding, now 32, had been accused of having sexual relations with an 18-year-old student. He was arrested in July and banned for life by USA Swimming as he awaited trial in October.
But now the Canton Repository reports that Spaulding has been acquitted by a jury this week after several days of testimony and about an hour of deliberation among the jury.
Spaulding was accused of having sex with an 18-year-old high school senior at Perry High School last April. Spaulding denied the allegations, admitting to flirting with and even kissing the student, but maintaining that he never had sexual relations with the student.
Though the student was 18 years old, Ohio law would make a sexual relationship a crime based on a special clause prohibiting a sexual relationship if the “offender is a teacher, administrator, coach, or other person in authority employed by or serving in a school” and the sexual partner attends the same school.
Spaulding was an English teacher and boys and girls swim coach at Perry High School, and had also coached with the Perry Aquatic Club since 2006. He has resigned his teaching position and as of now is still banned by USA Swimming from coaching.
USA Swimming has not yet responded to a request for comment on the matter.
Update: USA Swimming has confirmed that Spaulding will remain on the banned list despite the verdict. You can read more about that statement here.
Or better yet, give him a job in Colorado Springs….he will fit right in.
“Not guilty” means not proven beyond a reasonable doubt – NOT innocent. OJ Simpson was found “not guilty.” Give him a hearing if he wishes to return to coaching.
Since I do criminal defense in Ohio I can add some insight to this specific charge. It was sexual battery, and the allegation was that he engaged in sexual conduct with a student at the school he taught at. Under Ohio law (and in plenty of other states), even if the sex was consensual and/or the student was age of consent, a teacher would still be guilty of sexual battery. So in short, the jury only had to find that there was reasonable doubt as to whether he engaged in any sexual conduct with the student.
Just to add to what David Berkoff and HULKSWIM said above, even if no sexual conduct occurred, there can still be a USAS… Read more »
See (A)(7) of the statute:
http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2907.03
@davidberkoff Was the USAS ruling made under the assumption that coach in question was guilty of sexual battery? If so, will USAS at least reopen the case considering the fact that he was found not guilty in court? I am just a fan and you obviously know more about the USAS procedure regarding these circumstances than I do, but it only seems fair to reopen the case after the court ruling. I did notice that he admitted to flirting with and kissing the female swimmer, which is an obvious code of conduct violation and should result in the coaches punishment. However, I am not sure if he should receive a life time ban for those actions. My knowledge of this… Read more »
There are infractions which, after reprimand and re-education, you can be reasonably sure the coach will not commit again. There are even infractions which, if committed again, aren’t a huge deal because no swimmer is hurt or put at risk.
However, when it comes to a coach who used his authority to take advantage of a swimmer over ten years his junior, I think USA Swimming is 100% correct in not giving this man another chance to abuse his power.
Gotta agree about keeping him out of swimming. As far as the criminal side its a different issue. While this is 100% professional misconduct (ie he should never hink of asking her for consent) most jurisdictions consider 18 to be able to consent & would have never prosecuted this.
USAS Boards of Review decide complaints on a “preponderance of the evidence” not “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Even if someone is found not guilty criminally it has no bearing on USAS. If someone is found guilty the preponderance of evidence standard has already been met and that’s why any conviction or guilty plea is an automatic violation of the code of conduct.
Joel Lin- he still admitted to flirting with and kissing an 18 year old swimmer of his… So, no… For sure not.
Considering he was found not guilty, can he be removed from the banned list? Not knowing any more details, and assuming the case is all to it, this seems the only decent thing for US Swimming to do.