MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - The Vermont Supreme Court has upheld the dismissal of three charges against a former para-educator accused of carrying on a sexual relationship with a student.
Attorney Brooks McArthur says his client, 26-year-old Julianne Graham, feels “vindicated” after the high court’s decision last week.
Chittenden County Judge Michael Kupersmith dropped three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor against the Burlington woman last July.
Prosecutors appealed, alleging that Graham had three separate sexual encounters with a 16-year-old student at Hinesburg’s Champlain Valley Union High School during the summer of 2014.
The Supreme Court dismissed the charges after ruling that Graham had no position of authority over the boy because she wasn’t a school district employee that summer.
McArthur claims the arrest of Graham, who maintains her innocence, was “rushed” and “misguided.”
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