Attorneys for a former Ashville High School teacher and coach convicted and sentenced for the second-degree rape and sodomy of one of his students is seeking a new trial or outright acquittal.Pell City attorney Don Hamlin asked St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Charles Robinson this week to grant a new trial or order an acquittal in the state’s case against Donnie McKay, 34, of Ashville.
Two months ago, Robinson sentenced McKay to serve 15 years for the rape of a 15-year-old student and another 10 years for the second-degree sodomy of the student. The teacher and student had consensual sex, according to testimony during McKay’s trial in August.
Hamlin told the judge the court erred in allowing the victim’s diary into evidence, and the judge visited jurors while they were in the jury room deliberating the case.
Hamlin told Robinson he entered the jury room and stayed a few minutes when the jury became hung in the case.
He said that action warranted a new trial.
“The defendant has the right to always be present,” Hamlin told Robinson in the short hearing this week. “The court entered the jury room and the jurors rendered a verdict.”
Hamlin said Robinson’s action denied the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
However, Assistant District Attorney Lamar Williamson’s version of what happened during the trial differed from Hamlin’s account.
Williamson told the judge that jurors had a procedural question. He said Robinson asked the defense for permission to answer the jurors’ question.
Williamson said the judge answered the question only after defense attorneys gave him permission to do so.
He said the judge only opened the door to the jury room, stuck his head in and answered their question.
“You didn’t enter the jury room,” Williamson said.
Robinson said from the bench that was the way he remembered it happening.
He told defense and prosecution attorneys he would take the request for acquittal or new trial under advisement.
As of Friday, Robinson had not rendered a decision.
McKay taught at Ashville High School for three years before his contract was non-renewed May 9, 2005, by the St. Clair County Board of Education. McKay also served one year as the Ashville High girls’ varsity softball coach.
According to testimony, the teacher/student relationship began while McKay was still employed by the School System.
McKay was employed as a Locust Fork High School teacher and junior high school football coach with the Blount County School System when he was arrested Oct. 20, 2005. The Blount County Board of Education placed McKay on administrative leave after his arrest, but McKay later resigned.
A jury convicted McKay of the rape and sodomy of his former student on Aug. 31, 2006, and Robinson sentenced him to 25 years in prison in early October.
