A Texas jury took less than an hour to find a former high-school English teacher guilty yesterday of having group sex with five 18-year-old students at her home.
Brittni Nicole Colleps, 28, of Arlington, was convicted on 16 felony counts of an inappropriate relationship between a student and teacher, and each count is punishable by two to 20 years in prison.
Colleps, who is married and has three children, turned herself in after a cellphone video of an encounter with Kennedale HS students surfaced.
The trial was marked by graphic testimony of the group-sex romps, which occurred at her home in April and May 2011.
But three of the former students — who were football and track athletes — testified that they did not consider themselves victims and did not want to see Colleps prosecuted.
However, Arlington police Detective Jason Houston testified that charges were filed because “18 or not, it’s a crime” for a teacher to have sex with her students.
During the weeklong trial, a former student who is now 20 testified that he was the orgy participant who recorded his last encounter on a cellphone.
He said initially the students spoke of the importance of keeping their activities quiet because they didn’t want their teacher to get in trouble.
He also said that when school officials first questioned him, he denied the trysts because “I was trying to save her.”
Colleps’ husband, Christopher, who was serving in the Army overseas at the time of the encounters, testified he is angry at her, but stands by her “because ’til death do us part means ’til death do us part.”