Scales of Justice: Teacher Who Molested 2 Girls Forfeits Piano

A judge who wanted to punish a piano teacher for molesting two girls decided to do so in a way that would affect the defendant most. He has ordered George Marrs to stay away from the keyboard for 20 years.

That condition was part of the probation that state District Judge Ted Poe imposed as part of a plea arrangement that kept the musician out of jail for fondling 9- and 10-year-old girls.

“I took away the most important thing to him,” Poe said. “I don’t know anything about pianos. I don’t like pianos. But to him, that piano was the most important thing in his life.”

Marrs, 66, was accused of molesting the girls at his home during piano lessons. Both girls eventually told their parents, who notified authorities.

Marrs, who pleaded no contest Wednesday, also must donate his $12,000 piano to a children’s home and post a sign on the front door of his home that warns anyone under 18 to stay away.

Poe conceded Thursday that Marrs might get away with playing a piano somewhere other than his home. The intent of the unusual probationary clause, however, is to keep him from ever owning a piano again, thus stopping him from giving lessons, the judge said.

A probation officer, in periodic visits to Marrs’ home, will check for pianos, Poe said.

“It is certainly appropriate because there is a nexus between the crime and the punishment,” Poe said. “I see no legal problems at all. It’s a means of keeping him from possessing a piano.”