Chanting “Free Charles Carroll,” friends and family of the teacher acquitted of sexually abusing three students demanded his release from prison Monday.
“We want him brought home,” said Carroll?s mother, Dana Bankins, before a rally outside Baltimore City?s Clarence Mitchell Courthouse. “He was found innocent. They?re holding him on a technicality.”
In August, a Baltimore jury acquitted Carroll, a teacher at an East Baltimore private school, of the most serious charge: raping a 13-year-old student on the floor of his classroom. In November, prosecutors decided to drop a sex-offense charge based on allegations against Carroll made by two other girls.
Despite beating all the charges, prosecutors are still holding Carroll, an ex-convict, for violating probation, because he was arrested based on the girls? allegations.
” ?Not guilty? doesn?t necessarily mean ?innocent,? ” said Margaret Burns, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore City State?s Attorney?s Office.
At a hearing scheduled for today, prosecutors plan to argue that Carroll violated his probation from a 1995 second-degree murder conviction by being arrested based on the girls? allegations. They said Carroll groped and fondled them between December 2004 and April 2005.
Burns said prosecutors need to convince a judge at that hearing only that “a preponderance of evidence” shows Carroll abused the girls. In criminal trials, a jury must convict based on evidence that proves a crime “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Carroll could face up to 15 years in prison if he?s found today to have violated his probation .
At a rally outside the courthouse Monday, Carroll?s daughter, Chaje Carroll, 13, prayed for his speedy return home.
“It?s hard, but I just pray to the Lord that he brings him home soon,” she said, holding a sign that read, “Free my father!”
Christina Phillips Holtsclaw, the principal who hired Carroll at Community Initiatives Academy, publicly defended the teacher after his 2005 rape indictment, saying he deserved a “second chance.”
Carroll?s attorney argued through his trial that his main accuser was motivated by money and had filed a civil suit against Carroll and the school.
