Former Army-Navy Academy headmaster faces retrial in molestation case
The former headmaster of the Army-Navy Academy in Carlsbad will be retried on charges that he molested students, a judge ruled this week.
A jury had acquitted Jeffrey Barton, 57, on four charges but was unable to reach a decision on 16 others. The district attorney sought a retrial.
Barton’s attorney, Dan Greene, told Vista Superior Court Judge Harry Elias that a retrial is not merited. “The prosecution had its opportunity to set forth its case,” Greene said.
Elias sided with the district attorney that the case deserves a retrial on the unresolved charges involving half a dozen young men. The charges include sodomy and oral copulation.
“A second trial could end differently than this trial,” Elias said.
Barton resigned as headmaster in 2013.
In a partial victory for Barton, Elias lowered his bail from $5.2 million to $1 million. He remains in county jail.
The Army-Navy Academy is a college preparatory school for boys in grades 7 to 12, with emphasis on academics and sports.
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