Sex, sins of omission and injustice made local news this week in two separate cases - one out of Ooltewah and one from South Pittsburg.
In South Pittsburg, a Baptist preacher had been falsely accused of downloading child pornography - even after the investigating officers knew that neither of two computers confiscated from his home contained child pornography and the TBI knew that neither computer had been "scrubbed."
The evidence that arresting officers did not present to a Marion County grand jury - evidence which should and probably would have resulted in the case being no-billed - didn't balance the incomplete accusations of authorities, so David Hoschar, the pastor of Kimball Baptist Church, a husband and father of two, was indicted. A year and a half later, in 2012, the criminal case against him was dismissed, but in 2013 Hoschar and his wife filed a civil lawsuit in federal court, seeking $1.1 million because he was maliciously prosecuted, falsely imprisoned and embarrassed.
The case began six years ago when a Winchester, Tenn., police detective monitoring the Internet for sexual predators noticed an IP address in South Pittsburg was downloading stills of child pornography. That officer subpoenaed records from the Internet service provider and traced the downloads to an IP address that belonged to an "Emily" at the pastor's address. He and two other officers, including a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officer, got a search warrant for David and Emily Hoschar's home and found a desktop computer and a laptop, records show.
When they later presented the case to the grand jury, they never mentioned that someone else in the vicinity could have downloaded the porn because the Hoschars' router was not protected. They never clarified that the second laptop wasn't around during the search because the Hoschars' daughter took it when she moved out in 2009. And they never shared that a TBI report ruled out either computer being scrubbed clean of pornography.
The elders of Hoschars' church asked him to resign, and he did. Almost 18 months passed before the case finally was dismissed, and it was still longer before U.S. District Court Judge Curtis Collier dismissed the Hoschars' lawsuit against police. The Hoschars appealed. But this week the appeals court again left them with no closure.
"It is unfortunate that [the investigating officers] did not provide a more complete and balanced picture to the grand jury," reads the Sixth Circuit ruling, filed Tuesday, but even if the officers misled or gave false testimony to the grand jury, as officers they had "absolute immunity."
What is just about officers and prosecutors not presenting evidence that proves a defendant's innocence - or at the very least casts clear doubt of his guilt?
In Ooltewah, sins of omission have played out in a different way.
Following the December hazing/rape of an Ooltewah freshman basketball player as the team played several days of tournament rounds in Gatlinburg, Tenn., the school coaches and Athletic Director Jesse Nayadley were charged by Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston with failing to report child sexual abuse or suspected child sexual abuse to police or child protective services.
The freshman, allegedly held down by two fellow players and raped with a pool cue by a third, required emergency surgery. Pinkston has said four boys were assaulted during the trip, though only one required hospitalization. The hospital reported the abuse. The basketball team played another game the next day.
But on Wednesday in Hamilton County Criminal Court, Pinkston offered Nayadley a pretrial diversion, meaning the charges against him will not be presented to a grand jury and his case will be dismissed in 180 days if he completes 10 hours of community service, attends a class on mandatory reporting of abuse and is well-behaved. Cases are still pending against the two coaches charged with failure to report, and the cases of three basketball players charged with rape and aggravated assault were handled in Juvenile Court and are sealed.
Nayadley was suspended without pay from his position at Ooltewah High when he was charged in January. Under the agreement in court Wednesday, he could return to his job. Stacy Stewart, assistant superintendent of human resources for the Hamilton County Department of Education, said Nayadley could receive retroactive pay for the months of his unpaid suspension if the charge is dropped and the school system's internal investigation has no finding that would warrant termination.
"He would also be reinstated to a position within the district, which would be determined by the Superintendent," Stewart said in an email.
For some parents looking for change and reassurance about student safety at Ooltewah and other Hamilton County schools here, this just might be the final straw pushing them to seek educational alternatives.
Both of these cases involving sex charges have now seen justice.
Though that justice hardly seems just.