Anthony convicted

Atlanta jury finds ex-school official guilty of child molestation

FLINT

THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION

Saturday, August 18, 2007

By James L. Smith

jmsmith@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6365

ATLANTA - A new trial for former Flint school administrator Julius Anthony resulted in his conviction Friday on the more serious child molestation charge that was dismissed seven years ago in a plea bargain.

Fulton County Superior Court jurors deliberated part of Thursday afternoon and all day Friday before reaching a verdict.

At about 4 p.m., jurors reported they were divided 6-6 on a verdict, but Judge John J. Goger asked them to continue deliberations and see if they could resolve their differences.

At 5 p.m., they did, with the guilty verdict, said Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard Jr. in a news release.

Senior assistant district attorney Kimberly Esmond Adams asked Goger for the stiffest sentence possible.

"(Anthony) has continued to work in an educational setting in and around young children in Ohio, New York and Michigan," Adams told the judge. "The defendant had 11 years to accept responsibility for his actions and spare the child this recollection. Since he failed to show the victim mercy, the court should not show him any."

A sentence, which could run from 5-20 years, is delayed pending a presentence report. Anthony was taken into custody after the verdict.

A 2000 guilty plea to lesser charges in that case was reversed by a judge earlier this year because Anthony, 42, had not been in court and never signed the court documents, Goger ruled.

The two-day trial ended Thursday evening.

The case is significant locally because Anthony resigned from his position as the school district's executive director of curriculum and instructional services when the Georgia conviction came to light through a background check.

Anthony's arrest in Genesee County on charges he failed to register as a sex offender caused a minor firestorm after he was led into court in shackles after voluntarily surrendering.

The Genesee County charges were dropped by Prosecutor David Leyton after the Atlanta judge's ruling reversed his earlier conviction.

Taking the case back to trial was a roll of the dice for Anthony, who had already served 12 months' probation on a lesser charge of misdemeanor sexual battery.

A police report from the case indicated that Anthony was accused of fondling a 3-year-old boy who attended a preschool or day-care program at a facility where Anthony was reportedly working in September 1996.

Although the victim, now 15 and a 10th-grader, could not remember the assault, videotape from the time was used in the trial, Vaughn said.

In addition to the videotape, two of the child's teachers and a social worker corroborated his taped testimony, Vaughn said.

In April, Anthony filed a lawsuit against Leyton and Sheriff Robert Pickell for malicious prosecution. The suit is asking for nearly $7 million in damages.

"I'm happy that the young boy who was assaulted, now a teenager, finally will have some resolution," Pickell said Friday. "I'm pleased for the little boy. My heart also goes out to Anthony's family, who must hurt, but justice was done in the end."

Because of the pending lawsuit, Leyton declined to comment on the verdict, but he said he had reviewed the case reports and said they were "disturbing."

Leyton said he believed the passage of time would make prosecution of the case difficult.

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