Arielle Beck
Posted by Webmaster in Coaches, FE-FV, Hall of Shame, High Schools, Teacher's Aides, Utah
(08/12/2007 – Initial BadBadTeacher.com Report)
Arielle Beck, 28, a former teacher’s assistant and softball coach in Moab, Utah convicted of three second-degree felony counts of forcible sexual abuse and misdemeanor counts of stalking and supplying alcohol to a minor in a case involving a 14-year-old female victim has succeeded in getting her 2003 convictions over-turned.
The Utah Court of Appeals earlier this year issued a ruling over-turning Becks 2003 jury conviction on the basis that the trial judge, 7th District Judge Lyle Anderson, may have unduly influenced the jury by engaging in what has been reportedly termed “prolonged and adversarial” and “prosecutorial” questioning of Beck on the witness stand. The prosecution appealed the Court of Appeals ruling and last week the Utah Supreme Court uphold the ruling by the Court of Appeals granting Beck a new trial. Basically the courts held that while Anderson was within judicial power to question the witness to clarify answers that he crossed the line by asking questions that should have been asked by the prosecutor not by a trial judge.
At trial the victim testified as to the inappropriate touching, as did various students, teachers and the school principal all of whom allegedly witnessed it on occcassion. The victim also testified regarding the sexual abuse alleged. The victim’s mother discovered so called “love letters” and e-mails between Beck and her daughter.
Following Beck’s 2003 conviction Judge Anderson sentenced Beck to consecutive one-to-15-year prison terms. Beck had a parole-release date of October 24th of this year. With her conviction over-turned she will be freed and the prosecution has the option of filing charges and retrying her.
The testimony of the victim, who twice attempted suicide before Beck’s trial and hung herself in her bedroom closet after Beck’s trial, will be available for a second trial by way of transcript from the first trial.
Prosecutors have not decided if they will retry Beck citing the strain of another trial on the victim’s family. In addition to the victim’s suicide, her brother also committed suicide after his sister’s death. News media reports indicates the victim’s family is not sure it is up to another trial.
10/27/08 – Second Trial Scheduled
A second trial has been scheduled for Arielle Beck.
Beck will be tried on one count of sodomy and three counts of forcible sexual abuse, all felony counts. Beck will also be tried on misdemeanor charges of child abuse, supplying alcohol to a minor and allowing an unlicensed person to drive.
Beck’s trial is currently scheduled for April 20th.
10/23/09 – No Contest Plea
On Thursday just days before her trial was to start, Arielle M. Beck entered an Alford plea (no contest) to a single count of forcible sodomy.
In exchange for her plea, prosecutors dismissed three second-degree felony counts of forcible sexual abuse and misdemeanor counts of child abuse, unlawfully supplying alcohol to a minor and allowing an unlicensed person to drive.
The judge placed Beck on probation for five years, ordered her to pay $7,827.03 in restitution to the state Victim’s Reparation Fund, to complete sex-offender counseling and to register as a sex offender.
References:
Volunteer teacher pleads guilty rather than face second sex-abuse trial (10/23/09)
Moab teacher faces second sex abuse trial (10/27/08)
Moab Teacher’s Sex Abuse Conviction Overturned (8/13/07)
Ex-teacher gets new trial in child-sex-abuse case (8/12/07)
Court overturns conviction of coach in sex abuse case (5/06/2006) (Via Google Archive)
Moab Teacher Appeals Sex Abuse Case (3/27/2006)
Entries (RSS)
An In the law of the United States, an Alford plea is a plea in criminal court in which the defendant does not admit the act and asserts innocence, but admits that sufficient evidence exists with which the prosecution could likely convince a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty. Upon receiving an Alford plea from a defendant, the court may immediately pronounce the defendant guilty and impose sentence as if the defendant had otherwise been convicted of the crime.
The Alford plea differs slightly from the nolo contendere (”no contest”) plea. An Alford plea is simply a form of a guilty plea, and, as with other guilty pleas, the judge must see there is some factual basis for the plea. Therefore, a defendant’s prior conviction via an Alford plea can be considered in future trials; and it will count as a “strike” if a three strikes law applies. On the other hand, a nolo contendere plea is in no way an admission of guilt, and it cannot be introduced in future trials as evidence of incorrigibility. However, courts do not have to accept a plea of nolo contendere, and this plea is not permitted in some states.
ALFORD PLEA is not to be confused with a “No Contest” pleas. An Alford Plea is” See above…..
She did spend three years in prison before the original verdict was overturned. So, that accounts for something–that’s why the judge credited her for time served. There are some people who still don’t believe she did anything wrong, including Arielle herself.
What drove Kelly, unfortunately, wasn’t JUST what happened to her at the hands of Arielle, but what other girls at her school and in her community said and did to her. Her parents were able to get her therapy, but they weren’t able to get her away from the torment of fellow students. As someone who was tormented by other students in middle and high school, I can say for certain that when something like this happens, the best thing to do is to transfer to a different school, possibly in a different community altogether. It worked for me to get away. Had things continued down the path they were going for me, I would have probably ended up doing something that would have made the national news for being bad. Instead, I transferred to another school, thrived, and made the local news several times for doing good things. It is such a shame that the parents didn’t realize this: that, like the hostile work environment created by sexual harassment, a hostile environment can exist in school that can NOT be dealth with by mere therapy or anything other than getting the hell out.
And folks for the record she pled to the alford deal because the States evidence was so strong she had to back herslf into a corner and cry out GUILTY AS CHARGED!!!!!
That BIG red GUILTY sign above this pedophiles mug shot looks mighty fine. YEP mighty fine.
And yet another female teacher/pedophile is able to waltz out of the courtroom with all the charges dismissed or simply overlooked for sentencing. Any male would have been looking at serious time in the slammer for similar crimes against a child.
Well i dont know Ariel sherilynn or fuzz but it dont take a genious 2 figure out what happened here. its as easy as 2 plus 2.
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