The former Mason High School physical education teacher was found guilty last October on 16 counts of sexual battery for supplying five students, most of them football players, with alcohol and having sex with them in her Springboro home in fall 2010.
Peeler, who said he didn’t believe Schuler’s insanity defense, sentenced her to 48 months in prison, but said she would eligible for release after she served six months. An analysis of court records by The Middletown Journal showed Peeler has released 24 prisoners early since he took the bench in fall 2009. Schuler’s six months were up April 27, but her attorney Charlie H. Rittgers didn’t apply for her release until May 31.
Prosecutor David Fornshell opposes her early release. When Rittgers first asked for her release, he noted the time she had served didn’t even amount to a school year. He said they will be calling “very interesting” witnesses at the hearing next week.
Rittgers said this hearing is the only chance his client will get at freedom. Once a hearing has been held — under the law — and the judge denies the motion, a prisoner can’t make a second request.
In his release motion, Rittgers said Schuler has been a model prisoner. The former gym teacher and athletic trainer has been teaching yoga classes, tutoring inmates — two of whom have received their GED — and works with the cooks to provide more nutritious foods, according to Rittgers. He also included excerpts of letters written by 27 people on Schuler’s behalf.
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