The jury took less than three hours to decide Sewell was not guilty:
After deliberating less than three hours, a Tarrant County jury found former Southlake elementary teacher Michelle Dawn Sewell not guilty Friday of charges of indecency and sexual assault of a 16-year-old family friend last March.
“For Michelle Dawn Sewell at long last it’s over,” defense attorney Bob Hinton said. “It’s a tribute to our system. It’s been a long year for Michelle, so now it’s time for her to get on with her life.”
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Sewell, 28, had faced up to 20 years in prison on each of three counts of indecency with a child by contact and one count of sexual assault. She quivered and cried as she leaned into her attorney’s shoulder in the moments before the verdict was read.
When it became clear that she was acquitted on all charges, squeals of jubilation could be heard from her supporters. The boy and his relatives and friends sat stoically on the other side of the courtroom.
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Way to go Michelle!
The media wrote misleading, biased information about Michelle in newspapers before her verdict. There has not been enough coverage about what a deeply disturbed family can do to wreck an innocent person’s life. The media hasn’t provided vindication for the real victim, Michelle.