Lawyer for teacher on trial for sexual relationship with recent graduate argues 'no exploitation'
Client: J.S.S.
Charge: Sexual exploitation. A charge of sexual assault was withdrawn by the Crown mid-trial.
Defence: To be convicted, the judge must find J.S.S continued to be in a position of power over the teen after she graduated.
A former Calgary school teacher who had sex with a 17-year-old former student, weeks after she graduated, was not in a position of trust or authority over her, the defence argued Wednesday.
J.S.S., 41, who taught at Western Canada High School, is charged with sexual exploitation. A charge of sexual assault was withdrawn by the Crown mid-trial.
In Canada, the age of consent is 16 years old. But sexual exploitation can apply if the accused was in a position of trust or authority over the alleged victim.
The only issue in the trial is whether J.S.S continued to be in that position over the teenager after she graduated.
"There's no exploitation, no control or influence, no trust relationship, no power imbalance," said J.S.S’s lawyer, Alain Hepner, in his closing arguments Wednesday.
Court heard evidence that J.S.S, who was 33 at the time, taught the girl in the first but not the second semester of her Grade 12 year, which spanned 2017-18.
Hepner pointed out that J.S.S was "not her teacher; he was not involved in any of her classes" in 2018.
A publication ban protects the young woman's identity.
'A mutual attraction'
Throughout the piecemeal trial, which began a year ago, court heard evidence that the girl and J.S.S began texting in 2018 when she was still a student at Western.
The girl testified that she and J.S.S had sex at his home in June of that year, about two weeks after she graduated.
Text messages between the two show "two people having small talk … equally interested in each other," said Hepner.
"This girl was not a shrinking violet, there was a mutual attraction there … I don't see control or influence by Mr. J.S.S over [the teenager]."
'Keeping secrets'
But prosecutor Pam McCluskey argued for a conviction, telling Justice Sean Dunnigan that J.S.S "was in a position of trust" over the recent grad.
"That she'd graduated did not change her status as a young person or the accused's status as a person in position of trust or authority toward her," said McCluskey.
McCluskey also pointed to the complainant's testimony that J.S.S told the teenager to lie about their relationship in order to protect his job.
"He told her, 'you can't tell anybody that you're even here' … the deception, the keeping secrets is a significant factor," said McCluskey.
The Crown prosecutor will finish her closing arguments on Friday.
The complainant reported her former teacher to police in 2021 after she came to believe J.S.S had a sexual relationship with another teen.
By then, she said, she'd realized how young she was when her own relationship with the teacher began.
Source: CBC News