Kindergarten teacher acquitted

Tennessee news:

Tonya Craft was found not guilty of all 22 counts of child molestation by a jury in Ringgold on Tuesday afternoon.

As soon as the first not guilty count was read by Court Clerk Norman Stone, a shout arose in the hallway from supporters of the former Chickamauga Elementary School kindergarten teacher. ...

Three young girls had taken the witness stand to claim that Ms. Craft had molested them. Ms. Craft, who spent over $500,000 for her defense that included four attorneys, took the witness stand to deny every allegation. ...

Ms. Craft, who was facing some 400 years in prison if convicted of all counts, had soon arrived at the courthouse with her lead attorney.

The jury has deliberated a day and a half.

I did not follow this case, but there was apparently no hard evidence against her. It was mainly her word against the word of coached children.

Usually men face these phony charges, and they cannot escape by just taking the stand in their own defense. Some people naively think that kids always tell the truth, and don't realize how easily kids can be manipulated.

We don't have any male kindergarten teachers anymore, because of the fear of these kinds of false accusations.

If the teacher were really a child molester, then I would expect some tangible evidence and credible adult witnesses. Congratulations to Ms. Craft for standing up to this witch hunt, and winning.

Of course, she hasn't truly won. She lost her daughter, her home, her job, two years of her life, and $500k. She will probably never teach again, and have to move to another state. A false accusation can do a lot of damage.