A new trial has been granted for a former Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) elementary school teacher previously convicted of sexually abusing several students.
In 2017, John Vigna, of Silver Spring was found guilty on nine counts involving four victims. Vigna was serving 48 years in prison, but on July 12 was released ahead of a new trial.
Vigna’s conviction was tossed out by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge David Lease earlier this month after new attorneys for Vigna argued during his first trial, he had “ineffective assistance of counsel.” This was reached after a series of trials from November to March.
Vigna was a 5th and 6th grade teacher at Cloverly Elementary School for 20 years. A 2016 class on “body safety” triggered the investigation that led to his arrest and conviction. the class teaches students how to identify sexual abuse and teachers noted the physical reaction of one student. The investigation led police to ask any potential victims to come forward and five victims named in the 15-count indictment identifying Vigna...
I wonder if the “ineffective assistance of counsel.” argument can also be used by the victim as "ineffective assistance of prosecutor" to grant a new impartial and thorough investigation that leads into a conviction. . .
ReplyDeleteIf two random events are independent, they are uncorrelated, but the converse is not necessarily true.
DeleteWhat goes around comes around:
ReplyDeletehttps://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/hes-a-monster-fbi-raid-federal-child-exploitation-charges-of-ex-gilman-teacher#
"Flowers asserted aspects of getting his client into custody was "an abuse of power" by the federal government."