Breaking: MCPS Teacher John Vigna's Conviction Upheld. MD Court of Appeals Affirms Court of Spec. Appeals Decision

...CRIMINAL LAW – SIXTH AMENDMENT RIGHT TO FAIR TRIAL – DUE PROCESS – The Court of Appeals held that, because any evidentiary error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, Petitioner received a fair trial under the Sixth Amendment. In addition, the trial court’s adverse evidentiary ruling did not prevent Petitioner from presenting a meaningful defense. Thus, the exclusion of the proffered character evidence did not deprive Petitioner of due process...


...For many years, John Vigna was a popular elementary school teacher in Silver Spring, Maryland. But, as our nation has learned all too well, it is possible for a person to be a popular teacher (or coach or trainer or member of the clergy, etc.) and, at the same time, to sexually abuse children entrusted to his care. According to the evidence the jury heard in this case, Vigna sexually abused several female students while he was their teacher. The evidence showed that Vigna would have these young girls sit in his lap, and then would rub their buttocks and touch their genital areas over their clothes, or otherwise touch the girls for his sexual gratification.

At his trial, Vigna sought to elicit evidence from parents of students and from professional colleagues that, in their opinion, Vigna is the type of person who behaves appropriately with children in his custody or care. The trial judge ruled this evidence inadmissible, reasoning that appropriateness with children in one’s custody or care is not a “trait of character” within the meaning of the applicable rule of evidence. However, the trial judge allowed Vigna’s character witnesses to testify that Vigna is law-abiding and truthful.

The jury convicted Vigna on nine counts, and the trial judge sentenced Vigna to 80 years of imprisonment, suspending all but 48 years. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed the trial court’s evidentiary rulings and upheld Vigna’s convictions...

   Maryland Court of Appeals - MCPS teacher John Vigna by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd