Wait...maybe I'm being biased and generalizing, but it seems to me that this judge who ruled this way would have been conservative, am I correct in this?
The article doesn't seem to address the political leaning of the appeals court judge, either way.
It seems there was no actual judge in this particular case, but that the DA chose to drop the charges -- based upon the ruling of an appeals court judge in another, separate, case.
Courthouse News Service
I don't really see it as an issue that shows an obvious leaning -- either toward conservatism or liberalism. I think someone from either end of the spectrum could see it the same way, but for different reasons.
As a mother, I would be furious if a teacher were texting my daughter of that age in such a manner.
However, according to the OP article, it seems that since there was no attempt to meet, or take any sexual action, it was interpreted that the conversations did not fit the definition that would make them fall with an interpretation of
criminal action -- according to state law as written. That is my understanding of why the DA dropped the charges.
There might still be civil issues involved.
edit: After looking a bit further, it is my understanding that Appeals Court decision was made by a panel of judges, rather than by a single judge; although the opinion was written by a single person, Judge Cathy Cochran. According to Judgepedia (don't know how much weight I give this source) she is a Republican and was scored as having a liberal leaning ideology:
http://judgepedia.org/Cathy_Cochran .
