Sparrow's attorney James Linehan said the relationship
was consensual and at no point was there force or coercion. The age of
consent in Ohio is 16, which is how old the victim said she was when the
sex acts began. But, Linehan disagreed with the timeline and said the
victim was 17.
"The allegations at the heart of
this case involved a 17-year-old woman and a gentleman who was older
than she was," Linehan said. "In all aspects, this was a consensual
relationship."
The issue came, Linehan said,
in determining if Sparrow held an authoritative position over the
victim, which would make the sex acts illegal.
The victim met Sparrow in 2014 when she was 15 through another student, and they became friends.
"He volunteered at my school, and he kind of became a Christian mentor, and he also became my piano teacher," she said. Survivor details impact of sexual assault by Lancaster music teacher
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