Teacher acquitted of sex charges

By MARSHA DORGAN, Register Staff Writer

It took a jury only 20 minutes to find a former Napa third-grade teacher not guilty on six counts of sexual molestation.

Last week, after a six-day jury trial, the verdict came in acquitting Matthew Joseph Shelton, 26.

Shelton was charged with four counts of misdemeanor annoying or molesting a child and two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery, stemming from allegations of April 2007 incidents involving three female students at Phillips Edison Elementary School in east Napa.

Shelton taught third grade at Phillips Edison in the 2006-07 school year. As of June 8, 2007, he was no longer employed by Napa Valley Unified School District.

Shelton’s attorney, Chris Andrian of Santa Rosa, said the three girls testified at the trial.

“Their stories were fabricated and inconsistent with one another,” Andrian said. “I was very confident that the jury would find him innocent.”

Prosecutions that rest on the testimony of child witnesses are often difficult to prove, according to prosecutors, because young witnesses may be subject to multiple interviews and may give differing versions of events.

The jury also saw video tapes of the interviews the girls gave the police after Shelton was arrested.

“I think that helped my case. It proved the inconsistencies of the stories that they told police,” Andrian said. “It was one of the more gratifying experiences I have had as an attorney to see the jury come back with the not guilty verdict.”

Andrian said Shelton’s teaching credentials have been suspended.

“There is a lot of paperwork to do to have his credentials reinstated. I have already started the process so he can teach again. It most likely won’t be in the same school, since the girls are still students there,” Andrian said.

Shelton turned himself into authorities last September after learning there was a warrant for his arrest.

He has been out on a $10,000 bail bond.

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009