Ex-teacher accepts new plea bargain on charges of sex with student

Former Gorman High School teacher Jack David Patton has again accepted a plea bargain to charges that he had sexual relations with a student.

Patton, 28, agreed to a plea bargain once before but backed out of it when it appeared he might be sent to prison, despite prosecutors' recommendation of probation.

Patton is the first person charged under a 1997 law that makes it a felony for a teacher to have sex with a student ages 16 and 17. The crime carries a penalty of up to five years in prison on each count. Sex with students 15 and younger was already illegal under statutory seduction laws.

As was the case in the earlier plea bargain, prosecutors will again recommend that Patton be placed on probation. But there will be no guarantee that he will stay out of prison.

The earlier deal fell apart after the state Parole and Probation Department recommended that Patton serve at least a year behind bars.

The case was sent back to Henderson Justice Court, where Patton waived his preliminary hearing Monday as the first step in the new deal. He was charged with having sex with two students in homes in Henderson and Boulder City.

He is scheduled to be arraigned and enter his plea Nov. 16 in District Judge Kathy Hardcastle's courtroom.

If Patton pleads guilty to the single felony count and is sentenced to prison, he won't be able to back out of the bargain this time. His only option will be to plead not guilty and stand trial on the original 12 felony counts.

Defense attorney Bill Terry contended that the earlier recommendation for prison time was devised to send a message instead of being based on the facts of the case.

In the earlier plea bargain, Deputy District Attorney Doug Herndon said he would not oppose probation if Patton submitted to a psychiatric report and received a favorable recommendation.

The prosecutor said that was accomplished.

Patton resigned his job at the Catholic high school several days after a police investigation into the allegations began.

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