Speers guilty on two charges

A jury has returned mixed verdicts on five charges against a former second-grade school teacher relating to the alleged molestation of four students in his classroom about seven years ago.

After almost four days of deliberation in Yuma County Superior Court, the 12-person jury convicted Philip Gregory Speers Thursday on two of the five charges against him.

The jury, which returned its verdicts shortly after 2 p.m., found the former teacher guilty of two counts of molestation of a child and not guilty on two other counts of molestation of a child and one count of sexual conduct with a minor.

Jurors also determined that the victims were both under 15 years of age in the two guilty verdicts, which will have an affect on the sentencing.

After the court session ended, Speers' mother, Charlotte, who left the courtroom in tears, and his sister, both declined to comment.

However, family friend Carol Wray said she was stunned by the jury's findings and that the family plans to appeal the verdicts.

"I'm disappointed in the system that takes so many years to get to the truth," Wray said standing in the hallway outside the courtroom moments after the verdicts were read. "The facts are there to prove Greg innocent. Hopefully they can be brought out on appeal."

Wray added that the family believes that plenty of appealable issues arose during the 14-day trial.

Prosecutor David Haws declined to comment following the verdict, saying it would be inappropriate given that Speers still must be retried on a second conviction that was also overturned.

Attorney Kristi Riggins, who defended Speers after he decided to no longer represent himself, also declined to comment, citing similar reasons.

The retrial was for Speers' 2003 conviction, in which he was found guilty of the five charges and originally sentenced to 71 years in prison.

Speers was also sentenced in 2002 to 34 years in prison after being convicted on two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor for having child pornography on his computer. He is awaiting a retrial for the 2002 conviction.

The Arizona Court of Appeals overturned both convictions in 2004 and 2005. The state high court ruled that Speers' defense had not been allowed to use an expert witness to testify about how interview techniques used by police might have influenced the testimony of child witnesses, and that the defense was not allowed to call character witnesses at trial.

Speers, who taught during the 1999-2000 academic year at St. Francis of Assisi School, is currently scheduled to be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 29.

During the trial, the prosecution based its case on the testimony of the five victims as well as evidence of child pornography found on two computers to which Speers had access. The defense had maintained that conversations between the parents and children produced allegations that weren't the truth.

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James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.