No Verdict in Teacher Sex Trial

Prosecutors say teacher was upset over another girl's posting on student's MySpace page

Jurors deliberating the fate of Adrienne Feistel were hopelessly deadlocked and the judge declared a mistrial on all 17 counts Tuesday.

Feistel, 35, faced 10 felony counts of lewd acts on a child. She was at one time the fifth grade teacher of one of the alleged victims in the case while she taught at Rosa Parks Elementary School in City Heights.

In court Tuesday afternoon, the judge declared a mistrial, citing two incidents of juror misconduct. One juror watched television news reports concerning the case and another said she made her decision based on her emotions rather than the evidence.

Before the mistrial was declared, jurors were deadlocked 9-3 with the majority voting not guilty regarding the first 14 counts  centering around the youngest alleged victim. When deciding the final three counts, which involved the older alleged victim, all jurors reported that they were prepared to find Feistel not guilty.

Feistel not only had a sexual relationship with a former student, according to prosecutors, but she allegedly admitted to others that she had a "crush" on the student and was upset when she discovered another girl was posting messages on the student's MySpace page. 

The victim, now a sophomore in high school, testified that Feistel put her mouth on his penis and asked him to put his mouth on her breast . The alleged activity took place before he turned 13, in December 2006

Defense attorneys told jurors that the case was all about ulterior motives. The defense told jurors that the younger alleged victim's mother, Maria Garcia, never called the police to report her son was sexually abused but, rather, made the accusations the day that officers were called to the Garcia home to question Garcia about hitting her daughter Brenda.

Feistel was on a leave of absence from the school when the alleged relationship started in 2006 and resigned a short time later.  The district would not comment on the charges. 

There’s no physical, medical or DNA evidence to prove that Feistel is guilty of the offenses, according to defense attorneys.

Prosecutors plan to retry Feistel in January or February next year.

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