Grand jury indicts Hallman

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, June 10, 2008

LINDEN &8212; A Marengo County grand jury indicted former Demopolis High School assistant coach Nathan Wesley Hallman on two felony counts Tuesday.

Hallman, 24, will be arraigned before Circuit Judge Eddie Hardaway August 26 on charges of second-degree rape and enticing a child for immoral purposes.

The Hallman indictments were part of a highly successful grand jury process that saw 70 indictments returned on a total of 76 cases presented.

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The grand jury also worked quickly, taking only Monday and Tuesday to go through a docket that prosecutors expected to last through today.

Hallman was arrested March 19.

Hallman was an assistant coach for both the baseball and football teams. He tried to resign his position following his arrest. However, neither Superintendent Dr. L. Wayne Vickers nor Demopolis High School principal Dr. Isaac Espy accepted the resignation, referring the matter to the school board.

The Demopolis City Schools board of education also opted to ignore the letter. Instead, termination proceedings began. The difference? Once Hallman was terminated, the state is now able to review Hallman&8217;s case, and has the ability to invalidate his teaching certificate.

The termination proceedings were part of a formal process that school boards are required to follow when terminating an employee.

Alabama law states an employee up for termination is offered a hearing, which may be public or private, whichever the employee chooses. Following the hearing, the school board votes whether to terminate the employee. After that, the employee has 15 days to appeal the board&8217;s decision.

Hallman taught social studies at the high school. Retired teacher Gayle Flowers assumed Hallman&8217;s teaching duties through the remainder of the term.

The rape charge is a class B felony and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The second charge is a class C felony, and is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.