Lawyer: Loophole may help DeKalb coach accused of student sex assault

The attorney for a DeKalb County coach who was found with a partially nude student is hoping a quirk in Georgia law can help his client.

Darrel Lake, who is charged with sexual assault of a person in custody, denies having inappropriate contact with the 18-year-old student at Cedar Grove High. But attorney Jackie Patterson told Channel 2 Action News it doesn’t matter what happened, because the law doesn’t apply to Lake because he’s a coach and paraprofessional, not a teacher.

In 2016, the Georgia Supreme Court indeed tossed the conviction of a Cherokee County coach and paraprofessional in a sex case involving a 16-year-old girl for the same reason.

"A paraprofessional is not the same thing as a teacher,” Patterson said. "Even if he had sex with a student on campus or at home or anywhere else, he is not guilty of crime.”

According to a DeKalb County Schools police report, an assistant principal at the Ellenwood school walked in on Lake and the student in a classroom on March 6. Lake, who was clothed, said the student pulled her pants down without his consent; the student said Lake did it but said he hadn’t touched her inappropriately.

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