ARUNDEL COUNTY, MARYLAND: A former Arundel County, Maryland, high school teacher, has been acquitted of charges of having sex with a student after it was found that the victim who made the allegations lied years ago while under oath in court.
Meredith Susan Barry Martin, 39, who was also a former biology teacher at South River High School, was found not guilty of five counts of having intercourse while in a position of authority, one count of unnatural or perverted practice, and sex abuse of a minor. She was also found not guilty on five counts of sexual offense by a person in authority.
Victim lied under oath
Before the jury at Anne Arundel County Circuit Court deliberated and returned with a not guilty verdict, Thomas Morrow, Martin’s attorney, said in his closing statements that the student who accused his client of sexual abuse had lied under oath in court. “My job is to try and test a witness’ credibility, recollection and establish they aren’t telling the truth,” Morrow said. “I was able to establish the student wasn’t telling the truth.” He pointed out that every witness who testified on Martin’s behalf said she was a “caring teacher.”
Morrow also slammed the prosecutors, saying that he knew they would try to tarnish his client’s credibility. Prosecutors Maria Stamidis and Katherine Smeltzer, both assistant state attorneys, on the other hand, argued in their closing statements that Martin abused her power as a teacher. “This is not a situation he could enter into willingly and he had to confront a trusted person, who was once his favorite teacher,” Stamidis said. She also told the jury that Martin prepared for the case so much that she knew how to respond to her attorney’s questions before he asked them. “She is a teacher, she is used to educating and she was trying to educate the courts on how great she is,” Stamidis said.
Who is Meredith Martin?
Martin, who hails from Davidsonville, worked in Anne Arundel County Public Schools from 2007 to 2019. She also taught special education and science at Chesapeake High School from 2007 to 2012. After that, she worked as a science teacher at South River High School. She has not been employed by Anne Arundel County Public Schools since July 2019.
After a student submitted a written statement to the Anne Arundel County school board claiming they had several sexual encounters in the Davidsonville and Edgewater area, Martin was charged in February 2020. The student told police he was 16 at the time he had sex with Martin three or four times while she was his biology teacher between November and December 2018.
Denying the charges, Morrow said that his client drove the student home because it was a cold day. On another occasion, she let him drive her car in order to help teach him how to drive. He added that the prosecution was building a case to ruin his client’s life and that there was never any inappropriate sexual contact between the suspect and the victim.
According to Stamidis, the student originally held back from saying anything because that was something that was agreed upon between him and Martin. It was why it took the victim a year to admit what happened, Stamidis claimed. The prosecutors also stressed the fact that the student had nothing to gain from lying and that he did not make up his story.
Even in today’s scorched earth policy against those who are accused, a good lawyer will do their job to protect their client in court. However, the accuser will get sympathy for the rest of his life and say the system was not fair or just in the end.
Kids lie? Nah, I can not believe it.- Child Victim’s Advocate
Those prosecutors should be disbarred and never practice law again.
I had two therapists. One was a great one that I owe the world too. The other you could tell this was one of the first gigs that she could get. I’ll never forget what she said to me one day. “Teenagers cannot be manipulative. Their brains aren’t developed enough to manipulate others.” Of course anyone who’s been a teenager knows that’s bullcrap and that teens lie and manipulate often. I hope anyone that is falsely accused, is somehow able to rebuild their life.
Yeah there was definitely something sexual going on between these two she was just very careful how she went about the situation.
She made sure that if he ever told anyone about their relationship it would be her word against his and with no witnesses no DNA evidence the defense lawyers easily painted a picture of reasonable doubt.
In most cases like this there’s letters or text messages or students and staff members noticing the two engaging in inappropriate behavior but Meredith was way to clever for any of that.
The prosecutor’s in this case were pissed off she outsmarted the system they know she did it but couldn’t prove it
Good luck 🥵
Put the little shit in jail for 6 months and let him think about the life he tried to ruin.
What if the teen put the moves on his teacher and she rejected his advances; so lied saying she sexual assaulted him?
Kids lie? When the police raided our house on the morning of…they down right told me, no they shouted at me to my face, “Kids don’t lie especially about about sexual assault.” Well..I’m sure we all know that police do lie…and so here we are, It is very lucky indeed that this teacher was able to get an outcome like this then get freed due to a kid proven to have lied.
Here’s a dumb thought – require supporting evidence of the accusation. Ideally something more than other people’s opinions.