Jury finds Farr not guilty

After more than six hours of deliberation Thursday, jurors in the David Farr trial made him a free man.

The jury returned a late-night verdict of not guilty on one count of sexual assault, but deadlocked on four other charges.

Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to retry Farr, 37, on the remaining four counts of sexual assault or dismiss the charges. Until then, the conditions of Farr's $100,000 bond release still will apply.

"We believe the verdict was justified by the evidence and that the jury did a good job," defense attorney Jack Quatman said. "He has placed his life in the hands of the jury system."

The state's lack of physical evidence and reliance on the "inherently unreliable" statements of very young children warranted the jury's not-guilty verdict, Quatman said.

The jury "worked very hard on a difficult case," Quatman said.

The verdict capped a 10-day trial in Flathead District Court.

A former administrator of Children's House Montessori School, Farr was accused of molesting five boys between the ages of 2 and 4 in the nap room and offices there. He was the school's administrator from June 2004 to October 2005.

Farr testified in his own defense earlier Thursday, telling jurors the five boys' statements were the result of confusion and, for later allegations, contamination of the evidence.

"I am not," Farr answered when his attorney asked if he was a sexual predator.

Prosecutors pinned much of their case on the disclosures the five boys made to their mothers.

District Court Judge Stewart Stadler ruled before the trial that the boys' mothers would be able to testify in their sons' places, based on a Montana Supreme Court ruling that allows hearsay evidence in cases involving very young children.

Defense attorneys returned again and again to the lack of corroborating evidence, deficiencies in the boys' forensic interviews, and the chance that the allegations were leveled by hyper-sensitive mothers alarmed by a small-town rumor mill.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com