"Just making sure their instruments were right size" defence succeeds; ex-violin teacher acquitted of measuring girl students' bare breasts;

It's been a while since our legal beagle, Agent 3, sent us a good story, but today we have a titillating tale from the courts of Ontario, Canada. Crown prosecutors will ask the Ontario Court of Appeal tomorrow to overturn a lower court judge's finding that Claude Trachy, of Chatham ON, a former violin teacher, did not act "with a sexual purpose" when he measured more than 20 of his teen students' bare breasts while fitting them for shoulder rests. Rather, the trial judge found, M Trachy (not pictured) believed it was necessary to properly equip the students.

The Crown is now asking the appellate court to convict the ex-teacher on some of the charges, or at least order a new trial on all of them. In its appeal documents, filed today, the Crown says the complainants, who are now adults, testified they were asked to remove their shirt and bra on the left side so that Trachy could measure them from collarbone to nipple. They testified he touched their breast during this process and often would then have them play with their left breast exposed. Four complainants also alleged he took a plastic mould of their left breast.

M Trachy took the stand in his own defence, and swore he did indeed ask the girls to undo their blouses so he could measure them, but maintained he derived no sexual gratification from it. He also denied cupping or rubbing any of the complainants' breasts, as some of them alleged.

In its factum, the Crown notes that "no boys, notwithstanding their growth, size or shape, were touched in this fashion." Neither was M Trachy's daughter, who also played violin. It also says the perfesser didn't have a formula for how the measurement translated into shoulder rest adjustment, and had no rationale for how often the girls needed to be assessed.

The Crown alleges the trial judge made a number of errors, including oversimplified the allegations to focus exclusively on whether the accused acted with a sexual purpose. Prosecutors say sexual intention is only a necessary element of some of the charges, such as sexual interference, but does not need to be proven for others, such as sexual assault, which only requires that the touching be of a sexual nature. They argue as well that the trial judge failed to properly consider the evidence of an expert witness, who testified there was no justification for touching the students' breasts as part of a fitting, nor was it a known or documented practice.

As might be expected, counsel for the defence take the position that the appeal has no legal basis and the Crown is simply seeking a do-over of the trial. "Though framed in terms of legal error," their factum says, "the Crown's appeal amounts to a thinly disguised claim of 'unreasonable acquittal', a ground of appeal that does not exist in Canadian law." Their written submission continues, "Focusing primarily on the respondent's purpose for the touching was in no way improper because, in these circumstances, this was going to be the crucial issue determining proof of guilt."

Agent 3 discounts as an "inside joke" the rumour in legal circles that Donald Trump, Slick Willy Clinton and Creepy Joe Biden are seeking intervenor status in the case.