DA Will Not Pursue Charges Against Livingston Teacher

District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway will not prosecute a Livingston Academy teacher accused of inappropriate conduct with students.

In a letter Thursday to the TBI Special Agent in Charge, Dunaway said there is not enough evidence that science teacher Mark Lee committed a crime.

“Based upon the description of the complaints of alleged conduct, the only criminal offense that could have been considered would be an an assault by offensive touching…or possibly harassment,” Dunaway wrote.

Dunaway said the statute of limitations would have run out on both offenses. Both are misdemeanors.

In addition, Dunaway wrote there is a lack of proof needed to get a conviction. Dunaway said his review solely looked at whether a crime had been committed and did not include whether an administrative or civil penalty might be appropriate.

Overton County School administrators placed Lee on a three-day suspension for sexual harassment in March. They later extended that suspension indefinitely while the case was investigated. This followed allegations by two Livingston Academy students against Lee. In 2017, a female student reported to school officials that Lee had made sexually inappropriate statements to her. There were no allegations of any physical contact or solicitation of sexual contact. In 2019, a second female student reported that Lee had made inappropriate sexual statements to her, looked down her shirt, touched her stomach and stared at her backside.

In Dunaway’s letter, he said investigators talked to Lee who denied the incidents. Other students were also interviewed. Some reported hearing rumors about Lee’s conduct. Others said they did not see the alleged conduct. No physical evidence exists.

Dunaway said he was concerned that complaints of alleged misconduct were not formally reported to the DA’s office, a law enforcement agency or the Department of Children’s Services. The attorney for the two students said in March the students did not report the incidents to school officials because Livingston Academy officials knew about it and had ignored it.

A third student, in a letter dated March 18, said they she had heard Lee make inappropriate comments of a sexual nature to students between 2003 and 2007 when she attended Livingston Academy.

In closing the case, Dunaway said it could be reopened if new evidence surfaced.