The interviews follow a hearing in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
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Judge Robert Peeler, the lawyers on both sides and a child advocate are in the private session with the potential child witnesses. Only Peeler is asking questions.
The interviews, held in Peeler’s chambers in the courthouse in Lebanon to determine whether the children are competent to testify in the case.
On Monday Hopkins’s lawyers filed a motion outlining the questions that will be asked of the children to determine whether they will be permitted to testify in open court. A fifth child witness, selected from the 28 alleged victims, is to be interviewed in the judge’s chambers during the trial, scheduled to begin on Monday.
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According to the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office, the former teacher had placed multiple girls on his lap in a sexual manner, reached up under their shirts and up their skirts and touched their buttocks.
Hopkins’ defense team claimed that he “has done nothing more than any Santa Claus would do when a small child sits on their lap, especially if they are upset, crying or disturbed.”
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