A jury on Monday found the former Rhode Island high school basketball coach who conducted naked fat tests on athletes to be not guilty of second-degree child molestation and second-degree sexual assault.
As reported by The Associated Press, Aaron Thomas spent decades asking hundreds of male student-athletes if they were “shy or not shy” before asking them to take their clothes off so he could their check their body fat.
A jury on Monday found the former Rhode Island high school basketball coach who conducted naked fat tests on athletes to be not guilty of second-degree child molestation and second-degree sexual assault.
As reported by The Associated Press, Aaron Thomas spent decades asking hundreds of male student-athletes if they were “shy or not shy” before asking them to take their clothes off so he could their check their body fat.
The 12 jurors instead found Aaron Thomas guilty of a lesser charge — misdemeanor battery. In the final days of the nearly six-week trial, attorneys agreed that the jury could consider convicting Thomas of misdemeanor battery rather than the harsher charges originally issued against the coach.
Related: Report: Disturbing Details of Coach's Nude 'Fat Tests'
According to the AP's Kimberlee Kruesi, defense attorneys for Thomas argued that the so-called naked fat tests conducted by the once-beloved coach at North Kingstown High School were wrong but not a crime. The defense said Thomas didn’t touch the boy athletes for sexual gratification or arousal, a key requirement under the charges he faced.
“We’d like to thank the jury for their attention, their hard work, and for their verdict. We are very satisfied that the jury saw the case as we saw it, no sexual intent whatsoever,” defense attorney John MacDonald told reporters outside the court.
Prosecutors maintained Thomas created and implemented a program that allowed him to have unfettered access to young naked boys for decades, Kruesi reported.
“Above all else, this case is about the victims who suffered greatly behind closed doors,” said attorney general Peter Neronha in a statement. “And despite what the defendant and his defense would have you believe, pseudo-science is not an excuse for abuse, nor is winning more important than wellbeing. We believe that what took place here was not just bad judgment, it was, and always has been, criminal conduct.”
Sentencing for Thomas will take place June 26. Under Rhode Island law, misdemeanor battery carries a maximum one-year prison sentence and a possible fine as high as $1,000.
Although Thomas performed the tests on multiple students over many years, the charges related to just two former students, including one who was under 14 at the time.
Thomas’ attorneys argued that these former students’ testimony regarding events that took place in 2000 and 2002 were unreliable — pointing out one of the boy’s mental health struggles — and stressed that they really wanted a monetary payment under a separate civil lawsuit.
Related: Ex-Athlete Sues HS Administrators Over 'Naked Fat Tests'
Per Kruesi's reporting, Thomas testified that he likely saw more than 600 students throughout his career, with “roughly 80%” of them taking their underwear off during the test. The tests involved Thomas pinching various areas of their bodies, including near the groin and buttocks. The tests were conducted behind closed doors, first in a small closet-like room and then eventually in Thomas’ office.
Thomas acknowledged that removing underwear was not necessary, and body fat composition experts said pinching near the groin was not backed by science as a way to determine body fat.
More than a dozen students testified throughout the trial, as well as law enforcement officers, body composition experts and former school officials, Kruesi reported.
