A former high school physical education teacher accused of having sex with five male students is changing her plea from not guilty to not guilty by reason of insanity.
The Dayton Daily News reported in February that 33-year-old Stacy Schuler was indicted on 16 counts of sexual battery and three counts of offenses involving underage persons. She allegedly had sexual relations at her Ohio home with the five students, mostly football players at the high school, on five separate occasions from August to December of 2010.
The plea change was filed Monday, but Schuler's lawyer declined to comment on why the change was made. According to Cincinnati.com:
"Generally, when I've seen these pleas, there's something behind this - it tells me something came up that's cause for concern," said Akron lawyer Carmen Roberto, past president of the Ohio State Bar Association. During his 38-year law career, Roberto estimated he had seen fewer than 10 such pleas amid thousands of cases as both a defense lawyer and prosecutor.
Schuler must now be examined by psychologists or psychiatrists to determine whether she suffers a mental disability that deters her from being able to tell right from wrong, Dayton Daily News reports.
If Schuler is convicted on all charges, she faces up to 81 years in jail.