Teacher who had sex with student after graduation may have acted immorally, but not illegally, Calgary judge says
Client: Jason Selby
Charge: Sexual exploitation of a minor
Verdict: Not guilty
Former Western High School teacher Jason Selby was found not guilty of sexual exploitation of a minor
The sexual tryst a Calgary high school teacher had with a former student before her 18th birthday may have been immoral, but it wasn’t a crime, a judge ruled Friday.
Justice Sean Dunnigan found the prosecution failed to prove Jason Selby remained in a position of trust over the teen after she graduated from Western Canada High School in June 2018.
Selby faced a charge of sexual exploitation of a minor.
But Dunnigan said the then-35-year-old Selby’s sexual relationship with the girl — which began July 7, 2018, when she was 17 — was consensual and didn’t involve the educator abusing a position of trust.
The sexual relationship continued after the complainant’s 18th birthday and into the spring of 2020.
Since-retired Crown prosecutor Pam McCluskey argued the trust relationship teachers have over students continued beyond the girl’s graduation.
“I have reasonable doubt as to whether the Crown has proven the existence of a continuing position of trust between the accused and the complainant between July 7 and (her last day as a minor),” Dunnigan said in his written decision.
Teacher’s conduct ‘unseemly, distasteful, ill-advised…immoral’ says judge, but not criminal
The Calgary Court of Justice judge questioned the appropriateness of Selby’s conduct in the case, but found the prosecution failed to prove it amounted to sexual exploitation of the student.
“The significant age gap between the parties and the existence of a prior teacher/student relationship might make the accused’s decision to begin an intimate relationship so quickly after graduation appear on its face to be unseemly, distasteful, ill-advised or perhaps even immoral,” Dunnigan said.
“However, neither Parliament nor the courts have sought to prohibit a teacher absolutely from having a relationship with a former student or to define a socially acceptable ‘cooling off’ period.”
Dunnigan said despite concerns about the difference in age between the since-fired teacher and the teen, she was a mature individual capable of consenting to sexual activities.
“Beyond their age difference, the relationship did not reflect an inherent power imbalance that would cause the complainant to be in a position of vulnerability or weakness,” he wrote.
“There was no evidence of the complainant feeling intimidated, pressured or persuaded by the accused to engage in sexual relations at any time. Similarly, there was no evidence the accused groomed her during their school years at Western.”
While Dunnigan agreed with defence counsel Alain Hepner that the Crown failed to establish a position of trust between the teacher and former student, he rejected the suggestion Selby had an honest, but mistaken, belief she was already 18 when their sexual relationship began a little over a week after her final high school exam.
He noted Hepner argued there was no judicial precedent to suggest a student-teacher relationship was “incapable of termination.”
“While some members of society may regard commencing a relationship with a former student as distasteful, or perhaps even immoral, it is not illegal,” Dunnigan said in summing up the defence.
Teacher had sex with student weeks after she graduated high school
Selby taught the complainant in the first semester of the 2017-18 school year and had previously been her homeroom teacher.
After the student’s final exam at the end of June, she went to see Selby at the school and he provided his phone number and they discussed possibly meeting for coffee.
On the evening of July 7, 2018, she went to his home, and after a hot tub in her underwear she had sex with him.
Their relationship ended around May 2020.
Following the verdict, Hepner said his client, whom he instructed not to comment, was emotional.
“It’s been a long, drawn-out process,” Hepner said of the trial that began in 2023.
“It’s a roller-coaster for any accused to go through a process like this.”
Source: Calgary Herald