

BAY CITY, MI

— A Michigan Court of Appeals panel has approved reinstating charges against a former substitute teacher accused of having sex with Bay City high school students, reversing a judge's previous ruling.

In an opinion dated Tuesday, Aug. 27, the three-member Court of Appeals ruled Bay County Chief Circuit Judge Kenneth W. Schmidt erred in dismissing six counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a student in the case of Heidi L. Lewis, of Midland. The charge is a 15-year felony.

Lewis taught British Literature for emotionally impaired students at Bay City Central High School from January 2010 through the end of that school year. Police began investigating Lewis in January 2011, when police allege a female student at the school told the assistant principal her boyfriend had had sex with Lewis.

Schmidt in June 2012

on the grounds that Lewis was a substitute teacher not employed by the school district and the alleged sexual contact with students began once the school year ended.

Under Michigan law, the age of consent for sexual intercourse is 16, but it is increased to 18 if the participants are a student and a teacher, substitute teacher or administrator of the school attended by the student.

The Bay County Prosecutor's Office appealed Schmidt's ruling.

"[I]f a sexual penetration occurs by a substitute teacher after the school bell rings, or on a Saturday, or during the summer, prosecution ... is not foreclosed," the Court of Appeals' ruling states. "Rather, if the occupation as a substitute teacher allowed the actor access to the student of the relevant age group, the Legislature intended to punish that conduct."

The appeals court concluded that Schmidt's ruling is "reversed and remanded for reinstatement of the charges and for proceedings consistent with this opinion."

Before the dismissal by Schmidt, Lewis' case saw two mistrials when presided over by Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran. The first, in February 2012, ended during the jury selection process. During the second trial in March 2012,

three of Lewis’ former students testified they had sex with Lewis multiple times during the summer of 2010. All of the teens were 17 at the time, while Lewis was 41.

During the trial, Lewis’ attorney, Richard L. Lee Jr., argued that it would not be illegal for his client to have sex with the teens as she was not employed by the school and was no longer their teacher when the alleged sex began. Mid trial, Bay County Assistant Prosecutor Jordan E. Case amended the charges against Lewis to state she was just as guilty if she were a “contractual service provider” to the school.

In light of Case's amending the complaint, Lee asked Sheeran to declare a mistrial, which the judge did. Sheeran then recused himself from the case and Schmidt subsequently dismissed it.