PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A jury has found a former Rhode Island high school basketball coach not guilty of second-degree child molestation and second-degree sexual assault after he spent decades asking hundreds of male student-athletes if they were "shy or not shy" before asking them to get naked so he could check their body fat.
Instead, the 12 jurors found Aaron Thomas guilty of a lesser charge, misdemeanor battery, in their verdict handed down Monday. In the final days of the trial, attorneys agreed that the jury could consider convicting Thomas of misdemeanor battery rather than the harsher charges originally issued against the coach.
Throughout the nearly six-week trial, defense attorneys for Thomas argued that the so-called naked fat tests conducted by the once-beloved coach at North Kingstown High School were wrong but not a crime. The defense said Thomas didn’t touch the boy athletes for sexual gratification or arousal, a key requirement under the charges he faced.
“We’d like to thank the jury for their attention, their hard work, and for their verdict. We are very satisfied that the jury saw the case as we saw it, no sexual intent whatsoever,” defense attorney John MacDonald told reporters outside the court.
Prosecutors maintained Thomas created and implemented a program that allowed him to have unfettered access to young naked boys for decades.
“Above all else, this case is about the victims who suffered greatly behind closed doors," said Attorney General Peter Neronha in a statement. “And despite what the defendant and his defense would have you believe, pseudo-science is not an excuse for abuse, nor is winning more important than well-being. We believe that what took place here was not just bad judgment, it was, and always has been, criminal conduct.”
Neronha added that the statute of limitations on second-degree assault in Rhode Island is three years, a limit that he has pushed to increase to 10 years and would have allowed him to pursue more charges.
Under Rhode Island law, misdemeanor battery carries a maximum one-year prison sentence and a possible fine as high as $1,000. Sentencing for Thomas will take place June 26.
Although Thomas performed the tests on multiple students over many years, the charges related to just two former students, including one who was under 14 at the time, in September 2000 and February 2002.
Thomas' attorneys argued that these former students' testimony were unreliable — pointing out one of the boy's mental health struggles — and stressed that they really wanted a monetary payment under a separate civil lawsuit.
During his testimony, Thomas told the jury that he likely saw more than 600 students throughout his career, with “roughly 80%” of them taking their underwear off during the test. The tests involved Thomas pinching various areas of their bodies, including near the groin and buttocks. The tests were conducted behind closed doors, first in a small closet-like room and then eventually in Thomas’ office.
Thomas acknowledged while on the stand that removing the underwear was not necessary, while body fat composition experts said pinching near the groin was not backed by science as a way to determine body fat.
More than a dozen students testified throughout the trial, as well as law enforcement officers, body composition experts and former school officials.
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