Clovis Unified School District was within its legal right to expel a former Buchanan High senior who was kicked out of school after he executed a wrestling move called a “butt drag” on an unwilling teammate, a judge has ruled.

Judge Rosemary T. McGuire’s ruling in Fresno County Superior Court is the latest chapter in a once highly charged case that made headlines and led to a civil-rights lawsuit filed by the expelled student, Preston Hill.

In his lawsuit, Hill said he was the victim of malicious prosecution and defamation.

His teammate also contends he was a victim. The teammate filed a financial claim against Clovis Unified, alleging that he suffered physical and emotional pain when Hill allegedly rammed two fingers up his anus during wrestling practice in July 2010.

A court document filed Jan. 19 by the boy’s attorney, Monrae English, said Clovis Unified has agreed to settle the minor’s claim for $85,000. However, attorney Alesa Schachter, who represents Clovis Unified, said Tuesday “the claim is still pending and no settlement has been approved by the court at this time.”

Hill, then 17, said he was doing a legitimate wrestling move when he grabbed the freshman teammate’s butt cheek during practice. The teammate, however, told Clovis police and school officials that Hill sexually assaulted him in an attempt to humiliate and bully him.

The Clovis Unified school board voted in January last year to expel Hill, concluding that the wrestling move constituted sexual battery and bullying and that Hill caused or attempted to cause physical injury to his teammate.

Hill’s attorney, Charles Magill, filed an appeal, hoping a judge would overturn the expulsion.

In her Jan. 11 ruling, McGuire said the evidence showed that Hill touched the teammate’s anus through his clothing “with the purpose to intimidate and humiliate him, and it caused physical and emotional harm.”

Even if there was no penetration, Hill’s actions fulfilled the legal requirements for sexual battery, the judge said.

Magill said Tuesday that he wasn’t surprised by McGuire’s ruling, claiming the judge has a history of “siding with school districts.”

In legal documents, Magill said Hill didn’t get a fair expulsion hearing, mainly because Clovis Unified hired two attorneys from the same law firm, Lozano Smith. The law firm has dozens of attorneys in eight offices around California. One attorney, Jerome Behrens, advised the expulsion hearing panel and the other attorney, Tom Manniello, prosecuted Hill for the school district.

The panel is supposed to be independent, Magill argued at a Dec. 5 hearing before McGuire.

But McGuire said in her ruling that there was no evidence the two attorneys worked together or even knew each other. “The fact that both attorneys worked at the same law firm is not enough by itself to show that the `expulsion~ panel was biased toward the district and against `Hill~,” McGuire said.

Hill, who has gone off to college, might appeal McGuire’s ruling, Magill said.

Meantime, Hill’s civil-rights lawsuit is facing hurdles in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit, filed last August, claims there was a conscious effort by Clovis police officer Mark Bradford and deputy district attorney Elana Smith to press a sexual battery case against Hill, even though there was scant evidence to support the charge.

The charge eventually was dropped after Hill and his former teammate agreed to participate in a Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department educational program on the dangers of hate and intolerance.

Hill claims he was defamed and suffered humiliation and distress because of the widespread publicity the case garnered.

The defendants, however, say in court papers that the lawsuit should be dismissed because Hill didn’t file a claim in time and because prosecutors have immunity.

U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii is expected to rule on the motion in four to six weeks.

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