A Lincoln County, Colorado jury acquitted former Karval School District superintendent Kenneth Cody Weber on six of seven criminal charges brought against him in a child sexual assault case. Jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the remaining charge, resulting in a mistrial on that count.
The verdict followed a case that began in 2016, when Weber, then 36, was arrested and charged with seven counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust. The allegations related to a period before Weber became superintendent of the Karval School District and concerned conduct prosecutors alleged occurred while he was working as an educator in Limon, Colorado.
The charges were serious, but the ultimate jury verdict is an important part of the public record: Weber was found not guilty on six of the seven charges. The jury did not return a guilty verdict on the seventh charge. Instead, jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision, and the court declared a mistrial on that count.
The Original Charges Against Kenneth Cody Weber
Weber was arrested in late 2016 following an investigation involving allegations made by two underage girls. At the time of his arrest, he was serving as superintendent of the small Karval School District in eastern Colorado.
According to contemporaneous reporting based on an arrest affidavit, authorities alleged that the conduct began in 2009, when Weber was working in Limon, and continued during subsequent years. The allegations involved girls who had reportedly babysat for Weber and his family. Prosecutors ultimately charged Weber with seven felony counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust.
Following his arrest, Weber posted a $100,000 bond and was released from the Lincoln County Jail. The Karval School District placed him on administrative leave. The president of the school board said at the time that, to the district’s knowledge, the allegations concerned events predating Weber’s employment with the Karval district.
Weber denied that sexual activity had occurred. During the investigation, he acknowledged that the girls had babysat his children but denied the sexual allegations against him.
Jury Acquits Weber on Six Charges
The case eventually went before a Lincoln County jury in 2018.
After considering the evidence, jurors acquitted Kenneth Cody Weber on six of the seven charges. Multiple contemporary reports confirmed the six acquittals.
The jury was unable to agree on the remaining count, which involved an allegation of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust as part of an alleged pattern. Because the jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict, the judge declared a mistrial on that charge.
A mistrial is different from a conviction or an acquittal. It means that the proceeding ended without the jury reaching the unanimous verdict necessary to resolve that particular charge.
Following the trial, a status conference was scheduled for May 16, 2018, at which prosecutors were expected to address how they intended to proceed regarding the unresolved count.
Weber’s Employment in Education
At the time the allegations became public, Weber had recently become superintendent of the Karval School District, a small school system on Colorado’s Eastern Plains.
Before taking that position, Weber had worked in Limon, where news reports described him as an agricultural science teacher who was involved with the local FFA program. The allegations underlying the criminal prosecution concerned the period before his employment as Karval superintendent.
Following his arrest, Karval officials informed parents that Weber had been placed on administrative leave. The district emphasized that the safety of its students and staff was its priority.
Understanding the Public Record
The distinction between an accusation, criminal charge and conviction is particularly important when reviewing historical court information.
Kenneth Cody Weber was accused of serious criminal conduct and prosecuted on seven charges. However, accusations and charges do not establish guilt. The subsequent trial resulted in acquittals on six charges, while the jury reached no verdict on the remaining charge, resulting in a mistrial.
The publicly available sources reviewed for this article establish that result. They do not, however, establish from the information presently available here the ultimate disposition of the remaining count after the 2018 mistrial.
For that reason, it would be inaccurate to describe Weber as having been convicted based on these proceedings, just as it would be inaccurate to describe the mistried seventh count as an acquittal.
The available record instead reflects a criminal prosecution in which a jury considered seven charges against Kenneth Cody Weber, acquitted him of six, and was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the seventh.
Source: https://i-70scout.com/blog/jury-returns-verdict-on-child-sex-assault-case-in-lincoln-county/