ASHLAND — A new trial date has been set in a sexual battery case involving former Ashland High School history teacher Kimberly Siracuse.
During Monday’s hearing in Ashland County Common Pleas Court, Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell told Forsthoefel that a hearing was set in Ashland Juvenile Court for July 13.
After being informed that a hearing date was set in another court, Judge Ronald Forsthoefel set a trial date of Sept. 5.
“If there isn’t a disposition in this case prior to Sept. 5, I expect the state to go forward. If the State is not ready to proceed Sept. 5, I will dismiss the case,” Forsthoefel said.
The judge noted that it would be almost a year from the time charges were filed and called the new trial date a “drop-dead” date.
“At that point, you either try it or you don’t,” Forsthoefel said.
“See you then if not before,” Tunnell said.
A trial was scheduled to begin June 5 but was continued after attorneys for both sides said a plea agreement had been reached in late May.
Following the brief hearing, neither Tunnell nor Siracuse’s attorney James Mayer would comment about the juvenile court case and how it relates to the Common Pleas case.
“The parties, between the prosecution and myself, we worked long and hard on this case and the end result is the plea agreement that we are anticipating being able to finish up or otherwise complete,” Mayer said.
“If I have to try a case, I want to be able to pick a jury,” Tunnell said.
Siracuse was removed from her classroom at Ashland High School on March 4, 2016. She was arrested on Sept. 11, 2016, and entered pleas of not guilty to all three charges on Sept. 12, 2016.
On Oct. 2, 2016, Siracuse offered the Ashland City Schools Board of Education a letter of resignation, which the board accepted.
The indictment, which contains three counts of sexual battery, alleges Siracuse had sexual contact with an 18-year-old student in 1997.
