Jurors find Hayward Catholic school worker not guilty at child sex abuse trial - San Jose Mercury News

Branded a child molester, the former Catholic school employee spent two years in jail, ripped away from her son when he was just 3. But on Tuesday, a jury set the woman free, acquitting her of molestation charges that could have sent her to prison for nearly two decades. 

Mia Cummings, 31, of Oakland "wept tears of relief and gratitude" in Alameda County Judge Kevin Murphy's Hayward courtroom as a clerk read consecutive not guilty verdicts, said her attorney David Cohen, who defended Cummings with his Bay Area Criminal Lawyers associate Cherie Wallace.

Cummings was expected to be released from Santa Rita Jail late Tuesday and reunited with her 5-year-old son and her longtime boyfriend.

"This thing ended her career. It ended her life," taking her away from her family and her young son, Cohen said.
"I think justice was done here," he said. "We are extremely grateful to the jury for all its hard work and to Judge Murphy for a fair trial. Obviously, the risks were very high."

Cummings had been held since her arrest in 2013 on an $800,000 bond. If convicted, she could have been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Cummings was a well-regarded after-school program assistant at All Saints Catholic School in Hayward for eight years and had a good work record in 2013 when she was accused of sexually abusing a boy over a two-year period beginning when he was 12.


Jurors find Hayward Catholic school worker not guilty at child sex abuse trial - San Jose Mercury News