A Louisiana judge has entered a finding of not guilty against one of the two English teachers in small-town Louisiana arrested for having an epic, nine-hour threesome with the same then-16-year-old male student.
The now-former teacher is Shelley Dufresne.
Dufresne, 34, taught at Destrehan High School in the suburbs of New Orleans.
The other teacher allegedly involved in the unholy trinity was Rachel Respess, 26.
The district court judge, Danyelle Taylor, based her criminal trial finding of reasonable doubt on a lack of evidence provided by local investigators and her belief that the male teen — the primary witness at trial — was unreliable, reports The Times-Picayune.
The judge conceded that Dufresne probably did have a bunch of sex with her now-19-year-old paramour.
“She betrayed a very basic public trust as a school teacher,” the judge said.
However, the case in Judge Taylor’s courtroom turned largely on the location of all the sex. Was it in Jefferson Parish, where Taylor presides, or was it in St. Charles Parish, the next parish over?
“I do not believe that the threshold has been met by the evidence presented to this court,” the judge said. She also described the teen as having a “braggadocious nature” and a “propensity to lie.”
Police say the ménage à trois occurred in the fall of 2014. They say it featured the then-16-year-old male student along with Dufresne and the other teacher, Respess.
Dufresne, then a married mother of three, was 32 at the time.
Respess was 23.
Prosecutors said the trysts between Dufresne and the teen started with some flirting and soon escalated into an impressive torrent of sex and oral sex — often within the cozy confines of her trusty Honda Pilot.
Honda Pilot. Shutterstock/Ed Aldridge
The threesome, which allegedly occurred inside Respess’s apartment, was a kind of grand finale of the romance between Dufresne and the teen student, prosecutors said, according to The Times-Picayune.
The epic threesome lasted from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. the next morning, according to police reports.
At some point during the lengthy overnight encounter, the football-playing male student recorded video footage of his experience.
Allegations by Dufresne in a related civil case suggest that the video showed the teen’s scrotum in the face of Respess as she slept. (RELATED: Male Teen’s Parents Sue Over Son’s 9-HOUR THREESOME SEX TRAUMA With English Teachers)
Through her attorneys, Dufresne has claimed that the now college-aged student showed the video to his friends and football teammates but later deleted the footage and thus spoiled evidence.
St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s deputies alleged that the threesome happened on a Friday night, after a high school football game (which Destrehan won easily, 41-7). It was a special night, too, because it was Dufresne’s birthday.
Dufresne had been the student’s 11th-grade English teacher in 2016. Respress had the pleasure of teaching him in English class when he was a sophomore.
Prosecutors say Dufresne’s affair with the teen included a fictitious Facebook profile using the name “Madison Mexicano.” Dufresne created the profile. It included the words “I love Mexican boys.” Her cover photo was Speedy Gonzales, the Looney Tunes character with a Mexican accent who is “the fastest Mouse in all Mexico.”
Speedy Gonzalez. YouTube screenshot/Boomerang UK
A police investigator said the pair had their first sexual encounter — twice, presumably in the Honda Pilot — behind a daiquiri shop close to a strip mall.
There was lots of sexting during the relationship.
“Those messages leave very little to the imagination as to what happened,” the lead prosecutor said in court, according to The Advocate, a Baton Rouge-based newspaper
There was sex in parking lots and vacant lots, the teen testified — especially after football games and football practice.
The night of the threesome was Sept. 19, 2014. Prosecutors said Dufresne, the male teen and a bunch of football players happened to be at the same sports bar. One person with the male teen said he didn’t believe there had been a bunch of sex between the teen and Dufresne.
There was an argument. There was an altercation outside the sports bar.
Later that night, prosecutors said, Dufresne transported the male teen to an apartment where Respess lived.
Dufresne and the teen had sex “repeatedly,” prosecutors said. Eventually, prosecutors also said, “Ms. Respess joins in and they have a threesome.”
Four days later, prosecutors said, Dufresne complained to the male teen — using her Madison Mexicano Facebook account. “I trusted you … and you showed everyone everything,” she wrote.
Lawyers for Dufresne defended their client by arguing that Jefferson Parish authorities investigated the alleged crimes in a lousy and thoroughly incomplete manner. They also pointed to jurisdictional issues. Defense attorneys also concentrated on the male teen’s lewd video.
“There have absolutely been no consequences for his behavior,” Kim McElwee, one of Dufresne’s attorneys, said.
In a previous criminal case related to the same set of facts, Dufresne pleaded guilty to obscenity. She avoided jail time and sex-offender status. However, the court ordered her to spend 90 days within the confines of an unspecified mental health facility, serve three years of probation, pay a $1,000 fine and surrender her teaching license. (RELATED: Louisiana Teacher Accused Of 9-HOUR THREESOME With Teen Gets No Jail Time For OTHER Illicit Sex)
In this most recent trial, Dufresne was cleared of two counts of carnal knowledge.
The judge, Taylor, heard the case because Dufresne waived her right to receive a jury trial.
McElwee, the defense attorney, took Dufresne’s case on a pro-bono basis in part because she believed the case was being improperly tried in Jefferson Parish.
“Yes, she’s not innocent,” McElwee told The Times-Picayune. “She did these things. She had an improper relationship. She broke the law, and she should be punished. But there’s a difference between innocent and not guilty. They have to prove their case and they didn’t come close.”
McElwee also observed that the teen was not a child.
“The sex offender laws at one time meant you knew somebody really harmed a child, not somebody almost 17 years old that took part willingly,” she told the New Orleans newspaper.
Both Dufresne and Respess are alumnae of Destrehan High and both graduated from Louisiana State University.
Dufresne’s no-longer-accessible Destrehan High webpage shows she was a 10-year veteran at the school.
Her father is 29th Judicial District Judge Emile St. Pierre.
Respess was an English teacher at Destrehan High for two years.
Here is the complete Destrehan 2014 football roster, according to MaxPreps.
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