Former North Allegheny rowing coach found guilty of institutional sexual assault

NOTE: This story has been updated from the original to correct the coach's terms of employment at the school.

An Allegheny County judge found a former North Allegheny rowing coach guilty Thursday of having sex with her student, but lawyers said that decision should have no bearing on how a different judge will rule in the case against a Plum High School teacher accused of doing the same.

“Just because one judge makes a decision, that doesn't bind the other judge into making the same decision in another case,” Pittsburgh lawyer Chris Eyster said. “The decision from one is not binding on the fact-finder in another.”

The legal doctrine of precedence does not become active once a judge renders a verdict, Eyster said. Instead, another judge's verdict would apply only after an appellate court, such as the state Supreme Court, renders a decision.

Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski found Megan Batykefer, 31, of Coraopolis guilty of institutional sexual assault for having sex with an 18-year-old student.

In the Plum case, Judge David R. Cashman will oversee a Nov. 17 trial for Jason Cooper, 38, of Penn Hills.

“The only way it would affect my case is if that (verdict) is appealed and the issue that I have raised is raised before the appellate courts and decided before I could do it,” Cooper's lawyer Mike DeRiso said of his argument that the law barring teachers from having sex with students, even consenting adults, is unconstitutional.

But Phil DiLucente, a lawyerrepresenting former Plum school resource officer Mark Kost, said the Batykefer verdict “puts (Cooper) in a very difficult spot.”

Kost took a report from Plum Principal Ryan Kociela on Jan. 29 and forwarded it to the Plum Police Department, which led to Cooper's arrest Feb. 11.

“(Cooper) was completely in violation of the law as it stands today and there's no way, shape or form that it's a winnable case until the law is changed — and it's never going to change because it's too prolific throughout the school systems and when there's a known danger lurking in our schools,” DiLucente said.

Batykefer will be sentenced Nov. 10. Police said she began having sex with the 18-year-old student in April 2014, after he sent her a text message saying he had feelings for her. Batykefer told him she was attracted to him, too, and they had sex multiple times at Batykefer's home before she was charged in July 2014.

Like Cooper, Batykefer didn't dispute having sex with the student. Her lawyer, Christopher Urbano, said the relationship between consenting adults was not criminal.

DeRiso argued that Cooper and an 18-year-old student in Plum had consensual sex. Cashman rejected his request to dismiss charges Wednesday, in part because prosecutors said Cooper “groomed” his victim beginning when she was 17.

In his verdict Thursday, Borkowski said even though the victim acknowledged a consensual relationship, “the purpose of the statute is to protect students from such undue and coercive influence.”

The age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16 but the law defining institutional sexual assault prevents school employees from having sex with students even if they're over 18, the age at which individuals are considered adults in most states.

“Just as sexual contact between correctional staff and inmates is not constitutionally protected because it is ‘rife with the possibility of coercion, both subtle and overt,' the relationship between a high school coach and a student who is also on the team that the coach oversees is similarly rife with influence of position and age disparity,” Borkowski said.

Batykefer, dressed in a dark blouse and slacks, stared straight ahead when the judge spoke. She will remain free on bond through sentencing.

Adam Brandolph and Tony Raap are Trib Total Media staff writers.