Cobb teacher accused of sex with student wants case dismissed

A former Cobb County orchestra teacher indicted on sexual assault charges involving a student last April is asking that the case be dismissed.

Steven Parkman, 33, is accused of having sexual contact with a then-17-year-old female at Harrison High School in west Cobb, where he taught for four years. He alleges the charges are unconstitutional since it was consensual sex. The age of consent in Georgia is 16.

But under Georgia legal code, even if sexual contact is consensual, in the case of a student and teacher it is still considered sexual assault because the accused “has supervisory or disciplinary authority over such person.”

In a Nov. 25 court filing, Parkman alleged that the law is unconstitutional because “it lacks sufficient specificity, is void for vagueness and does not give a person of ordinary intelligence fair warning that specific conduct is forbidden.”

Parkman waived his formal arraignment on Nov. 13 and entered a not-guilty plea. He is scheduled to appear Feb. 12 before Cobb County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Nix for a hearing on the request for dismissal.

Before his April 14 arrest, Parkman resigned in lieu of termination. It is against state policy for an educator to have “sexual contact” with a student regardless of whether it is consensual.

During a Georgia Professional Standards Commission hearing at the school before resigning, Parkman admitted to having an inappropriate sexual relationship with the student, who has since graduated.

Parkman told investigators that he and the student had sexual contact four times beginning last February, including one time in the orchestra room and one time in his car.

This wasn’t the first time that Parkman had violated school policy at Harrison. According to information in his personnel file, he was suspended without pay for two days after acknowledging that he signed the principal’s name to a student’s permission slip for an Orchestra All-State audition Oct. 27, 2007.