JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The sentence for disgraced former Douglas Anderson School of the Arts music teacher Jeffrey Clayton could be handed down Friday.
In April, Clayton pleaded guilty to four felonies relating to grooming and touching a 16-year-old student and on Friday he will be back in court for a sentencing hearing.
Clayton’s attorney is arguing for the minimum sentence, a little less than three years in prison, and laid out the reasoning in a memo filed last week. He faces up to 40 years.
The memo lists dozens of students he claimed to have helped succeed, but some have come out and said they don’t want their stories used to argue for a lighter sentence.
On Friday, he will also be confronted by the testimony of four female students, including the victim he pleaded guilty to touching last year.
As part of a plea agreement, a total of seven additional female students were set to testify at Clayton’s sentencing, although the State Attorney’s Office said four of them have decided they will not participate.
Clayton said he never abused anyone but the victim in the case at hand, and the state has also agreed as part of the plea agreement not to bring additional charges against Clayton related to his time at DA.
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In a court filing, Clayton’s attorney notes his client’s lack of prior criminal history, good behavior on bail, and support from former students, parents and colleagues who have written him character letters.
He also lists the initials and brief bios of dozens of former students, that “Mr. Clayton trained, coached, and helped go to the next level, whether through college or outside of college, in furtherance of their musical career.”
Former DA student Shyla Jenkins said this is ironic because Clayton’s power over students’ careers was a tool he wielded to abuse.
“He had absolute total rein to direct your career, whether you succeeded or didn’t and so to use those names in the way that he did, to show that he’s such a great person is a betrayal because it’s not the truth,” Jenkins said.
Some of the former students listed said they didn’t give permission to be included in the filing.
News4JAX received an email from someone who said they were identified among the success stories.
She said Clayton picked her as a favorite and groomed her as a vulnerable teen, and although it never got physical, it led to backlash from peers and staff.
“I, and many of my fellow alumni find it perplexing, pathetic, and offensive to not only attempt to take responsibility for OUR hard work and accomplishments but to go so far as to use them as cover to excuse his abhorrent and inexcusable behavior,” she wrote.
She said she used to think of Clayton fondly, but “Now when I think about all the time I spent with him, just texting, or all the hours completely alone and behind closed doors, I feel ill. I feel betrayed and I hate him.”
“I loathe him absolutely for thinking he could use me, even in this small way, to vouch for him,” she wrote. “He shows a clear pattern of this type of behavior, a disregard for the safety of children, a lack of respect for his career, community, family, and common decency. He is sick, he is dangerous, and he should get the maximum sentence available.”
News4JAX asked Clayton’s attorney about the student’s claim that she was not asked to be included in the statements.
“No confidential information of any former student was used in any portion of the sentencing memorandum and nowhere was it represented that any of these former students supported or support Mr. Clayton in any way or condone his behavior. Out of respect for the concerns of some of these individuals that have reached out to my office, however, that entire section of the memorandum has been redacted. Separately, multiple former DA students, former DA parents, and friends and family of Mr. Clayton, while of course not in any way condoning or supporting his conduct that led to these charges, have offered their support which will be presented at sentencing tomorrow,” attorney John Rockwell said in a statement.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
Clayton’s arrest last spring unleashed a barrage of other allegations of abuse and a toxic culture at the school and led to other teachers being removed from the classroom amid investigations.