Cherokee County

Lawmaker vows to close ‘loopholes' in sex offender law

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — A recent Georgia Supreme Court decision to overturn the sexual assault conviction of a former high school employee has prompted a state legislator to begin steps to re-write a statue to make it more inclusive.

The court ruled the conviction of former paraprofessional and wrestling coach Robert Leslie Morrow was invalid because he was not a teacher.

Robert Morrow, 27

"I think I was in disbelief originally, but then you read the decision and you can't really be mad at the judges, because they're doing their job. They're reading the law as it was written," said Republican state Rep. Scot Turner.

Turner represents a district in Cherokee County, where River Ridge High School is located.

That is where the former employee worked and carried on a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old female student in 2011.

A jury convicted Murrow of sexual assault and he was sentenced to 10 years of probation. But last week, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld an appeals court ruling.

The court said the code forbidding staff from sexual conduct with students only applied to teachers, principals, assistant principals and other administrators and therefore did not apply to the defendant.

Morrow's attorney said his client should never have been charged, and that the relationship between him and the student was consensual. Sixteen is the age of consent in Georgia.

"He had no supervisory or disciplinary authority over her. He was simply working at the school she attended," said attorney T. Bryan Lumpkin.

As a footnote to its decision, the Georgia Supreme Court said the state Legislature had the authority to broaden the type of employees to which the sex offense code applied.

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Turner said he is working to introduce legislation to rewrite the law in January.

"The intention of the legislation is to make it airtight. It wouldn't matter if you were a parapro, a teacher, what position you had in the school We're going to apply equally no matter what your position," Turner said.

Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace said she will work with legislators to broaden the language of the law.