For longtime Harper Junior High teacher John O’Brien, the saga that began last September, and resulted in a November arrest, ended this week. Mr. O’Brien stood accused of inappropriately touching a 16-year-old male student, whom he had been mentoring through substance abuse problems, over his clothing.
Concord-based Attorney Ken Moyal told the Vanguard late Thursday that the case resolved on Thursday. Mr. O’Brien pleaded no contest to an amended Count 2, PC section 273a(b), a misdemeanor, child endangerment. Mr. O’Brien under the terms of the agreement will not serve time in custody, but he will be under house arrest for 31 days and will then serve three years of misdemeanor probation.
Mr. Moyal told the Vanguard that however this ends, Mr. O’Brien’s teaching career is up to the CTC (Commission on Teacher Credentialing). “Mr. O’Brien loves teaching, he always has.” Mr. O’Brien resigned from the district in January after being placed on administrative leave.
“Mr. O’Brien was blindsided and devastated by this news,” Mr. Moyal said, noting that Mr. O’Brien was well-loved by many parents and students that he aided throughout the years and who sent many words of support during this difficult time.
Mr. O’Brien can now think about his future, and his attorney said that “he is not quite sure what he wants to do yet.”
John O’Brien has maintained his innocence throughout the entire process and that did not change on Thursday. However, by accepting a plea agreement, Mr. O’Brien loses the opportunity to contest the charges in court.
Ken Moyal explained the overriding consideration for why Mr. O’Brien took the deal. He said, “There were several factors that went into his decision.” He said, “One of his primary concerns was the toll that it would take on the community – especially his students. There were almost 20 different students and former students that were interviewed by Davis PD, and that would likely become witnesses at a possible trial.”
“Mr. O’Brien did not want their last image of him as them testifying in court,” Mr. Moyal explained.
He noted that Mr. O’Brien had a 15-year career in Davis and “this kind of trial, which would be a much more extensive trial than a run of the mill misdemeanor trial – that’s due to the extensive nature of the Davis PD investigated this case. There would be far more witnesses than a typical misdemeanor cases.”
Mr. Moyal pointed out that, despite this extensive investigation, only one student – the original student – alleged any kind of inappropriate conduct by Mr. O’Brien.
Mr. Moyal also noted that Mr. O’Brien is carrying for an elderly parent and that this is ultimately a non-registerable offense. The probation period is three years and after that, if he successfully completes his term of probation, the entire matter can be expunged from his record.
“Taking all of the factors into play, he felt this was the smoothest and most considerate and effective way, considering all the people that would be affected, to resolve this matter,” he said.
Mr. Moyal stopped short of criticizing the police for their investigation. Rather, he said, “If one looks at the investigation by Davis PD… they went all out on a misdemeanor,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for ten years and this was the higher echelon of investigation with the amount of effort that was put into this level of crime.”
He said, “They found nothing. No one else at all could even say anything bad about him.” In the end it was just the original complaining witness. He believes that would have been a powerful fact and that they could have shown the community that he was not guilty. Mr. Moyal reiterated, “He does maintain his innocence.”
As the Vanguard reported last fall, Mr. O’Brien, was a mentor to this boy for years. Ken Moyal told the Vanguard, “The boy’s family recruited Mr. O’Brien and begged them to come help them with their son who was drug addicted, has substance abuse problems, and had behavioral problems likely exacerbated at the result of his substance abuse. He has been in and out of rehab.”
“Mr. O’Brien was probably one of the most effective and influential forces in this boy’s life to keep him on the track of sobriety and not falling into that substance abuse,” he said.
“Our contention is that this was his motive to try to eliminate Mr. O’Brien,” Mr. Moyal continued. “That’s simply that he knew his parents were listening to Mr. O’Brien and that ended up with him going to rehab which he didn’t want to do.”
Mr. O’Brien no longer lives in the Davis community. He resigned from his position back in January. While this saga now ends from a legal standpoint, it will take him some time to figure out the next steps of his life.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
this is our justice system at work – a good and respected teacher’s career is undone by an unsubstantiated allegation that for reasons that are not clear the da and police decided to pursue and prosecute. not wanting to drag himself and his former students for a lengthy and difficult trial, he decides to cop a plea and give up his teaching career. all because he tried to help a student in need.
This is my feeling on this too. It is such a shame. I hope he goes on the do great things. The report said that there is a possibility that this can be expunged from his record. I hope that this works out.
Unfortunately, we do not have a justice system. We have a deeply flawed legal system, one that most people cannot afford to fight. It’s a terrible situation, and I also wish him the best.
DP
I agree completely with your comment. Our current system clearly does not reflect a belief in “innocent until proven guilty” when in fact, an individual’s career and life can be effectively destroyed by an unsubstantiated allegation.
Defendant plead to a misdemeanor. Does that mean the original charge was a felony?
no the original charge was misdemeanor sexual battery reduced to misdemeanor children endangerment
You or any else don’t know all the facts of this case except for the teacher and that student. You seem to be writing off anything that may have happened to that student.
my belief is that the student is claiming the teacher touched him over his clothing in the private area. there are mitigating circumstances of the drug treatment, rehab, that give him motivation to lie in a retaliatory manner. there are no witnesses to the act. and they found no evidence that there was a pattern of behavior (that would normally surround a teacher of 15 years). so do the math.
BP
I don’t see anyone “writing off” anything. The standard is “innocent until proven guilty”. Here the choice is go to trial with all the potentially harmful effects not only on the teacher, but presumably on the alleged victim, many other students and parents , and the time and money involved vs a plea which will cause further damage to only the accused, who remember, is still legally “innocent”.
I see this as a major flaw in our adversarial system which is failing to uphold our own standard by de facto imposing punishment on the accused without having proven guilt.
Tia,
How is the “the accused … still legally “innocent”?
He admitted to a crime, subjected to house arrest and placed on probation effectively ending any teaching career that he had. No one will hire him now.
If he were innocent he would have gone to trial requiring that the DA prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Now he is no longer innocent. He is a convicted criminal on probation. From the article it looks like this deal allowed him to avoid registering as a sex offender which was important to him. Maintaining your innocence while pleading to a crime is pretty stupid. It looks like all he had to lose by going to trial was registering as a sex offender and the stigma that goes with that requirement and being convicted of a sex crime. I have no idea what the evidence against him was and have not followed this story. All I know is that this article made me want to vomit with all of the minimization and spin by the defense attorney. At the end of the day this guy is NOT innocent as a convicted criminal.
Except, after 3 years (according to the VG account), his record will be “expunged”… doesn’t that mean that if asked about his history, or if a background check is done after that time, he’s legally “clean” and would not be lying if he says he has ‘no convictions’?
it’s more complicated than that. any deep background search is going to pull up the conviction and the arrest. usually employment verifications are based whether they have ever been arrested and usually unless you are found factually innocent, those continue to prevent employment. this is part of the problem of mass incarceration – large numbers of people can no longer gain gainful employment.
I think “expunged” means that he can legally say that it never happened. That’s my understanding. Can any lawyers weigh in?
Ryan,
So now the Sheriff in San Francisco who’s domestic violence conviction was expunged can now tell the public that it never happened? Go with that thought.
several things here. he did not admitted to a crime, he chose not to challenge the charges. he entered what could be properly characterized as an alford plea.
however, i think tia’s point goes to something more fundamental. mr. o’brien based faced a series of legal consequences before he was even formally charged – he was put on leave, he resigned his position, etc. guilty unless proven innocent. and i understand that the district has to protect children, but i think they failed to protect an employee here, a good one at that.
Based on the VG account, it appears that the DA could have credibly declined to file charges or drop them.
Really DP,
He chose to resign his position instead of defending his actions in a hearing where the school district would be required to prove his conduct much like he entered a plea agreement instead of forcing the DA to prove his illegal conduct in a jury trial. So he chose not to challenge the allegations with the school district (because they were true?) and suffered the consequence of giving up his job. Just like he chose not to challenge the charges (again because they were true?) and suffered the consequence of a conviction, house arrest and probation. Now he claims he was innocent. That sounds much like Clinton’s famous I did not have sex with that woman claim.
zaqzaq
“Now he is no longer innocent”.
He was right up until the point when he accepted the plea. And yet, his standing in the community was already destroyed as was his career. The moment the accusation was made his “punishment” began. That was what I was alluding to.
I do not believe that anyone knows that “if he were innocent he would have gone to trial”. I believe that is how you see the situation. I do not necessarily agree. I believe that there are people who would accept a lesser punishment rather than drag out this extremely painful process on a gamble that their side of the story might be believed.
“Maintaining your innocence while pleading to a crime is pretty stupid”
Not if you know that you are innocent but do not trust the judicial process to lead to that conclusion. One has only to look at the Dev case to see how one might not believe that the judicial process would arrive at a just outcome.
Tia,
You of course assume that Dev is innocent. You seem willing to give Dev convicted in a jury trial and this guy convicted in a plea bargain the benefit of the doubt. I am not willing to go there in these situations.
Or possibly the teacher was guilty and he chose to plea out to lessen his penalty? You don’t know, Dp doesn’t know either.
i raised four potential flags – you didn’t attempt to address any of those flags.
BP
It is true that neither DP nor I nor anyone but the true principles know the truth of what happened. But then I am making no claim to knowing. Unlike zaqzaq who is claiming that he or she knows what an innocent person would do. We have many instances in which people confess to crimes that they did not commit for any number of reasons. My criticism is one of our system which does not in fact support our stated principles, not a statement of the guilt or innocence of this individual.
So what’s all the naysayers solution when someone is accused of this type of thing? Should we just disregard the student’s claims because it might result in the loss of a teacher’s career or a plea deal?
we can’t disregard students claims and that’s part of the problem and probably why he made the accusation to begin with. his mistake was being in a place where he could credibly be accused of the crime. the system’s a problem and we put these restrictions in place to protect children from predators, but now we need to figure out how to protect teachers from malicious complainers.
“IF” this was a malicious complaint.
i presented evidence suggesting it was. you’ve presented nothing suggesting it wasn’t.
What evidence did you present, you weren’t there, all you presented were your imo biased thoughts of what might have happened.
BP
“So what’s all the naysayers solution when someone is accused of this type of thing? Should we just disregard the student’s claims because it might result in the loss of a teacher’s career or a plea deal?”
I couldn’t have expressed better what I see as a major problem with our adversarial system. Everything becomes a matter of one side prevailing over the other at any cost. It leaves no room at all for the possibility of a misjudgment of an innocent gesture by a troubled youth, it leaves no room for the possibility of a malicious accusation or attention getting behavior on the part of a youth that does not really understand the full implications of the charge. The adversarial approach means that one person, either the accuser or the accused must be vilified and their life ruined. I do not have any experience with our judicial system, or that of other countries, but I do know that we have the ability to collaborate as well as to adopt a win or lose strategy for every aspect of life, and I believe that we have an obligation to try to do so in these cases.
Well said Tia. Very well said.
The one thing that I would add is that in that kind of winner-take-all system, the relative individual resources (power and money) of the adversaries can often predetermine the outcome regardless of what the legal realities are.
Tia, I could not agree more, life is not back and white and neither usually is any situation. The legal system is completely inadequate to deal with reality in even a remotely fair way, purely horrific. Truth usually has little or no bearing in what proceeds.
Barack Palin: “So what’s all the naysayers solution when someone is accused of this type of thing? Should we just disregard the student’s claims because it might result in the loss of a teacher’s career or a plea deal?”
I don’t think of myself as a naysayer, but as I read your words above I couldn’t help but think about the parallels between this student accusation situation and what may be the preponderance of rape accusation situations. In the latter, the accuser very quickly becomes the accused, and very frequently the accuser makes a similar decision to the accused teacher in this case … the pain of pursuing the truth is more than an individual can bear.
Valid point. No evidence was presented to substantiate the charge, original or amended. If the trial had gone forward we all would be in possession of many more facts, screened by rules of evidence, and opportunities for vigorous cross-examination of witness testimony. We would have had a jury weigh all these factors, render a verdict, and doubtless give personal opinions after the trial.
None of that happened. The defendant chose to plead out, thereby denying any of us the opportunity to see and measure the strength of the prosecution case and see for ourselves whether the defendant was legally guilty or innocent.
The defendant attorney claimed with no presentation of fact that his client was innocent. Strangely, the defense attorney chided the police for excessive due diligence, which might be a legal precedent in American jurisprudence. Presumably, had the Davis Police messed up on a key investigation element, a trial would surely follow. But they did their homework, and the accused was left with one practical option.
So when anybody condemns the criminal justice system, and cites this particular case in support, please bear in mind that it was the defendant who chose not to avail himself of the opportunity to refute the allegations–and show a jury and the public that he was, indeed, innocent of all charges. The criminal justice process, heartily criticized here did not have the opportunity to follow-through, it was short-circuited by the defendant, leaving the rest of us to speculate and also reiterate basic primal prejudices publicly.
Phil:
While what you say is for the most part correct, it does not take into account the ‘costs’ associated with defending oneself against an allegation such as this. The teacher lost his job, and consequently his ability to earn a living. In addition, just to get to this point, his attorney fees will be something on the order of tens of thousands of dollars with no end in site if this were to go to trial. There are ways to protect the child that do not require destroying the adult, especially in a case where there is little or no substantiating evidence (at least as presented).
If there are better “ways” to what we have now, present them. Every one of us would like to hear a process where children possibly in jeopardy of sexual assault and abuse are immediately protected, while at the same time suspect of same is protected from false and premature judgment from society.
If there is a way to do that, nobody’s found it yet that I know of. Please expound, you’ll become a societal savior if you have something in mind.
I’m not claiming to have all the answers Phil, I just don’t believe we should destroy someone’s reputation and career solely on the word of a teenager with known ‘issues.’
Some suggestions for starters however are that the teacher in question could have been placed on paid administrative leave or assigned duties away from school children for the period of time that the case was in question. That provides him with an income to better defend himself against the accusations. This should be the default decision, that could be overridden in the face of overwhelming evidence. Instead, in this case he was considered to be ‘guilty’ by the School District, which immediately started dismissal proceedings against him. The Child was protected from the teacher once the teacher was removed from a position of influence, it did not require termination of his employment.
In my opinion, cases like this should be evaluated by a panel of experts to determine if there was sufficient evidence to move forward with charges. We would all hope that the DA’s office would be able to handle this responsibility correctly, but I think there is ample evidence both locally and nationally to suggest that there needs to be an oversight panel outside of the DA’s office to protect citizens from overzealous prosecution.
Mark West, great suggestions! Keep the good ideas coming.
Phil
Several times I have presented on the Vanguard suggestions that I think might present a less biased and biasing approach in our justice system and would be very interested in your opinion.
1. In a case such as this where reputation is based on single accuser in essentially a “he said, he said” scenario we might consider not releasing the name of either the accused nor the accuser, and allowing the accused to maintain their income in a manner which does not put any individual at risk.
2. If the case were to go to trial, I would recommend that evidence not be presented by those whose careers are based on “wins” but by a neutral party thus eliminating the “conflict of interest” issu
3. Same time presentation of all evidence to both prosecution and defense.
4. Equal resources allotted to both prosecution and defense thus eliminating monetary issues involved as raised by Matt.
OK, for one of the attorneys out there… does the teacher have at least a half-way decent chance of prevailing in a Civil suit against the accuser/parents? What would it take for evidence of malicious accusation?
Even a non attorney can answer this one. His conviction validates the accuser/parent’s claims. How does he get around the fact that he resigned and accepted a conviction. Any judge would get a motion to dismiss with a copy of the conviction attached to it as undeniable proof that the accuser’s claim is true.
Mark,
He did not lose his job. He resigned instead of fighting the charges. Had he prevailed he would still be employed. There are public defenders who can provide legal representation at no cost. Again the evidence was not presented in a public forum because he took a plea deal. He had opportunities to protect himself by fighting the charges and chose not to.
“He resigned instead of fighting the charges.” Yeah, technically correct, but missing the facts that the District began firing proceedings, had put him on unpaid leave, and had referred the matter to State credentialling (an understandable, but cowardly move, given the Admin leave w/pay option until the legal process played out) long BEFORE he resigned..
Guess we agree to disagree on the points you made.
Phil, you have a very idealized view of the “justice” system.
There is exactly zero probability that in a similar situation I would have any confidence in the “justice” system determining the truth and correctly finding me not guilty even I were as pure as the driven snow. And, this is after never having been arrested, having served on juries, and had positive interactions with various members of law enforcement. The reality is that once a case gets into the “justice” system, no ordinary person can afford the cost in time and money of a strong defense, despite the best efforts of public defenders. The resources are far too imbalanced – in favor of “the People” or as I think better termed, “the State.”
Face it, we have no “justice” system. We have a legal system, one that most of use don’t trust and that is so complex, we could probably all be charged with something at any time, should the State so desire. As for a lying accuser in a protected class, the situation is even more imbalanced – not that some classes are not worthy of protection – but the conflict between truth and protection has never been adequately resolved and certainly won’t be anytime soon. Oink!
Hit a chord… said it much earlier, but will repeat… Dad served on a number of juries, including two that might lead to capital punishment. He told me that if he was accused of a crime, if he was actually guilty, he’d go for a jury trial. If innocent of the charges, he’d waive the jury and just deal with the judge.
Very interesting comment. It sounds like the thoughts of an observant and wise man.
Phil
“The criminal justice process, heartily criticized here did not have the opportunity to follow-through, it was short-circuited by the defendant, leaving the rest of us to speculate and also reiterate basic primal prejudices publicly.”
True as far as it goes. But this ignores the fact that the accused had already suffered greatly because of these unsubstantiated charges ( with the accuser having no consequences due to his protected status) and therefore could reasonably have lost faith in the ability of our system to exonerate him.
I realize that our contacts with the judicial system have led us to very different perspectives on the honesty and integrity of all involved and my knowledge of the details is dwarfed by yours. But the very fact that some posters here seem to make the assumption that an accused individual must be guilty of something does nothing to strengthen my faith in our adversarial system.
I’ll saw no evidence that posters in this stream determined the man’s guilt on their own reasoning. What was most obvious was the defendant admitted his guilt. Now that’s a fact that, to borrow your word, must not be ignored.
And while we are on semantics and how they guide thinking and advocacy, beware the phrase, the charges were unsubstantiated. That’s they lawyer talking, don’t fall into that verbal trap. The charges were NOT substantiated, rather than unsubstantiated. And the reason the charges were NOT substantiated is that the defendant chose to avoid the People from substantiating their case.
We’ll stated Phil. What alarms me here is the number of posters who are insinuating that the child was lying without any knowledge of what really happened whatsoever.
Lauren Keene, 17 July 2015, Davis Enterprise: Plea deal resolves former Harper teacher’s sexual battery case
BP
I clearly have stated repeatedly that I have no idea whether or not the child was lying. I do know that right up until the plea was agreed to, the accused had to be considered innocent. So why are we not protecting the reputation of a legally innocent individual, but rather allowing the destruction of his life ? One suggestion that I would make in such a case is an addition to the suggestion that he be allowed to continue to earn a living in a position with no student contact, is that his name also not be made public until the investigation is completed and charges determined. I have spoken to individuals who believe in his guilt and those who do not believe in his guilt. What is very worrisome to me about this is that people are willing to make their decisions based on a complete lack of evidence. To me this does not bode well for getting an unbiased jury should the decision be made to go to trial. Perhaps his knowledge that he had already been judged by the community played into the decision to make the plea.
zaqzaq
“You of course assume that Dev is innocent. You seem willing to give Dev convicted in a jury trial and this guy convicted in a plea bargain the benefit of the doubt. I am not willing to go there in these situations.”
I do not “assume that Dev is innocent”. I believe that he did not receive a fair trial. I cannot conceive how any judge could allow translation by the accuser to stand as unbiased and believable. What I believe about the Dev case is that it should have been retried.
I also do not assume that the teacher is factually innocent. I have said repeatedly that we do not have any basis to make that judgment. But what we have been willing to do is to “punish” a man that has not been proven guilty either by trial or confession since my understanding is that a plea in this case does not equal a confession. I have only the explanations provided on which to base this conclusion since I have no legal background.
I would ask that you, like other posters, to refrain from telling me what I think. I am very interested in your ideas. I am completely uninterested, as I think others should also be, about what you believe is in my head and heart.
So if a plea isn’t equal to a confession then why would anyone ever be “punished” as you say when they plea down a charge?
Sorry, I just don’t see it that way. I see it as someone who pleas down is admitting their guilt to a lesser charge in order to dodge a stiffer sentence.
A plea is not a confession. They plead no contest, rather than “guilty” and it is exactly that – a decision not to contest the charges in exchange for some other consideration.
David
“A plea is not a confession”
Agreed. And this is actually a better response than mine although I would still act as stated.
All just a play on words.
In a sense, yes, the judge also admonishes that the court treats a no contest plea like a guilty plea, but we also know that innocent people cop to pleas relatively frequently.
“why would anyone ever be “punished” as you say when they plea down a charge?”
This brings up another interesting point.
I believe in the value of protection. Those who are dangerous should be isolated from those they might harm.
I believe in the value of prevention. Those who are at risk for committing crimes should be provided with better opportunities and help to see and realize socially constructive alternatives as Frankly has pointed out. Also regarding prevention, I believe that those who are guilty of sexual crimes should be prevented from having access to their potential victims regardless of their career ( teacher, priest, doctor, executive, politician, celebrity as a few examples).
I believe in the value of consequences. Those who are guilty of non violent crimes should be prevented from further commission of these crimes by tracking systems, either of a GPS or internet mechanism, from engaging in their criminal behaviors again. And the consequences should be proportionate and appropriate to the crime committed.
I believe in the value of rehabilitation and redirection. Many people we incarcerate are clearly not what anyone would consider a “hardened criminal” and yet too often this is the most lucrative opportunity that they gain through incarceration with those who are. Instead, the non violent offenders should be considered as candidates for secondary prevention.
I believe in the value of treatment. Those who are guilty of drug related crimes due to addiction should be treated, not incarcerated. Those who have committed crimes due to mental illness should be confined not in prisons but in secure mental hospitals where they can be treated while the community is being protected.
I do not believe in the value of “punishment”. Punishment is used as a means of retribution or restoration of justice. I believe that it achieves neither while reinforcing our baser instincts as individuals and as a society.
BP
“ I see it as someone who pleas down is admitting their guilt to a lesser charge in order to dodge a stiffer sentence.”
And I agree with this. But this still says absolutely nothing about their actual innocence or guilt. I would “admit to guilt” whether or not I had done the act if I honestly believed that I would be convicted because of failings of our judicial system and that a stiffer sentence would be extremely likely if I did not lie about my guilt.
So let’s suppose that I am in a “he said, she said” situation in which I am factually innocent but I do not trust the judicial system to correctly determine my true innocence. Would I not be better off accepting a plea with a lighter sentence than unsuccessfully accepting to prove my innocence? Now let’s further suppose that something really major is on the line such as my ability to be with and support my children if I accept the plea. Which would be the greater moral breech ? The possibility of the loss of their truly innocent mother to an erroneous conviction, or my lying in acceptance of the the plea in order to stay with them ? I know which route I would take as the lesser evil . What would you do under these circumstances ?
Dear David and VG Staff,
Thank you very much for this update on Mr. O.B. It’s taken me a few days to digest all of this info and write a meaningful comment. I’ll post another comment on your subsequent VG commentary article. Several readers have already written very thought provoking comments here. Below are four. I echo their sentiment:
1. Phil Coleman’s 7/17 2:14 p.m. post, especially:
“Every one of us would like to hear a process where children possibly in jeopardy of sexual assault and abuse are immediately protected, while at the same time suspect of same is protected from false and premature judgment from society.
2. Davis Progressive’s comments.
3. Matt’s comment, especially:
“…In the latter, the accuser very quickly becomes the accused, and very frequently the accuser makes a similar decision to the accused teacher in this case … the pain of pursuing the truth is more than an individual can bear.”
4. Tia Will’s comments – I agree with pretty much all of them.
Again, thank you for this information. I wish the best for John O’Brien and also for his accuser & family.