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Sexual assault charges against former Manitou Springs teacher dismissed

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EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - A former Manitou Springs High School teacher accused of sexually assaulting a student over a decade ago is no longer facing criminal charges after an El Paso County Judge dismissed the case Monday.

55-year-old Matthew Barton was set to face a second jury trial this week after the first resulted in a mistrial in 2022. The mistrial declared by the judge came after a jury of twelve could not decide on Barton's guilt, referred to as a hung jury.

According to the Manitou Springs Police, the assaults happened in the 2009/2010 academic year. During his time at Manitou Springs High School, Barton was an English teacher and a girls' soccer coach.

Monday, the 4th Judicial District Attorney's office told the court that the named victim in the case, a high student at the time of the alleged sexual assault, no longer wished to testify in the upcoming trial. The prosecutors outlined that they still believe they have enough evidence to convict Barton in another trial, but stopped short of asking for an outright dismissal of the case.

Instead, the prosecution told the judge they wanted to "do right by the victim," and not proceed to the trial previously set for Tuesday.

The DA's office also claimed the victim has been subject to online harassment from people who may be connected to Barton. They claim she was approached by an investigator for the defense, who claimed to working under the guise of law enforcement to interview the victim on her front doorstep in another state.

All of these factors, the DA's office says contributed to the victim not wishing to move forward with the case, despite believing she was previously sexually assaulted by Barton as a high school student.

KRDO13 Investigates reached out to Barton's defense attorney, Cindy Hyatt, for comment on the allegations made in open court about their actions.

"This particular prosecutor who has been dishonest, has failed to disclose discovery, concealed discovery over the past two years. Much of the record she made today was incorrect, demonstrably and it's it's just unfortunate that a prosecutor would resort to this sort of thing when their role is to seek justice, which obviously was not the goal of this prosecution," Hyatt said.

The case against Barton was a two-year-long court process after he was arrested and charged in early 2022. The delays in the case were multi-faceted: the hung jury, questions over Barton's competency to stand trial, and three continuances in the last few months requested by the defense.

Court documents also outline that the defense previously griped about alleged discovery violations by the prosecution, claiming they were not turning over all the evidence to them in the case. The judge found the prosecution did not violate their discovery obligations and the case proceeded forward.

"And that's why the case was continued in May. The prosecution today neglected to mention that it was, in fact, because of their misconduct, that the case was considered, that the case was continued last May in terms of a continuance this last fall for Mr. Barton's competency evaluation, we provided documentation to the court that he was suffering from some cognitive decline because of long COVID symptoms, representing that, misrepresenting that to the court is not going to be sufficient," Hyatt explained.

Those concerns raised by the defense continued Monday as Hyatt asked the judge to order all communications between the prosecutors and their talks with the victim to be preserved. Instead of issuing a preservation order, the judge ordered that all evidence, including the communications and work product from the prosecutors, not be destroyed in any way.

"He's been branded and tried in the court of public opinion for the last two years and the prosecution's contention that they thought that this time they would definitely get a conviction. I think that's absurd because in the process, over the course of the last two years or the course of the last year, or rather, we've received information about the accuser, in this case, reaching out almost immediately in January 2020 to asking about what options she had to pursue a civil lawsuit," Hyatt added.

After the dismissal, the judge ordered Barton to be released from his $80,000 bond, have the trial date vacated, and allow him to show up at a future court date virtually.

A future court date, on April 1, will decide if the case against Barton will be sealed. If it is, the case and the charges he faces will no longer be public records and will not show up on Barton's record. Additionally, the DA's office will be barred from speaking on the case if it is sealed.

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Sean Rice

Sean is reporter with the 13 Investigates team. Learn more about him here.

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