Officials at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind did nothing to protect a developmentally disabled, blind 14-year-old boy from sexual assaults by a larger male student, the attorney for the boy's mother told a federal jury.
"This is a case about personal responsibility," attorney Stacey Sullivan said Monday as trial began in the woman's suit alleging the boy's civil rights were violated.
Jimmy Sutton suffered unacceptable harm because school officials ignored his mother's reports of a previous assault on the boy, Sullivan said.
The boy's mother, Kathi Jo Sutton of Layton, is suing the Ogden-based school and principal Dwight Moore, director of programs for the blind.
Jimmy Sutton was abused in a school restroom, and the assailant is a deaf student at the school.
Although he has extreme difficulty communicating complex events, because he can barely speak, over the course of three hours, Jimmy was able to tell his mother of the fondling.
Kathi Jo Sutton went to Moore's office the next day to tell him of the attack and urged him to protect her disabled son from the possibility of a second incident.
Moore then promised it would never happen again, Sullivan said.
"Instead, nothing was done," Sullivan said. "No reports were filled out" about the incident, and "there were no discussions with other staff members who worked with Jimmy."
Moore believed there was no first attack, Sullivan said. "Jimmy reported the abuse and nobody took him seriously."
The next week, Jimmy Sutton was again left alone in a school restroom and again was sexually abused by the same 12-year-old boy, Sullivan said.
The other boy was convicted in juvenile court on gross lewdness and forcible sexual abuse charges.
"Mr. Moore did nothing to create or to enhance the risk" of sexual abuse, defense attorney Reed Stringham told the jurors. "Mr. Moore did nothing that made it more likely."
Kathi Jo Sutton explained that her son's disabilities are a result of his extremely premature birth, that he also suffers from cerebral palsy and, although he is age 20 now, he has the mental capacity of a young child.