The Bainbridge teacher accused of having sex with one of her teenage students entered a plea of not guilty in Kitsap County Superior Court Monday.
Jessica M. Fuchs made her first court appearance Monday, May 11 following her arrest last week on two felony charges and a gross misdemeanor that were brought after administrators at Bainbridge High learned of alleged inappropriate conduct between Fuchs and a student in her 10th-grade biology class.
Fuchs did not say much during her short court appearance before Superior Court Judge William Houser as she was charged with first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor and tampering with a witness, and also communication with a minor for immoral purposes.
Noting that Fuchs has no criminal history, is not a flight risk and has been under investigation since February — and also has longstanding and deep ties to the Bainbridge community — her defense attorney asked that her bail be reduced from $100,000.
Houser agreed to reduce her bail to $25,000, and her attorney noted that Fuchs had 10 members of her family in the courtroom and that they would pool their money to come up with the bail amount.
Houser also told Fuchs to have no contact with her 16-year-old victim, and approved a two-year, no-contact order that prohibits Fuchs from coming within 1,000 feet of the teenager’s home or school.
Fuchs then answered Houser’s questions as he went over her conditions of release.
Her trial has been set for June 29.
Fuchs, wearing orange flip flops and dressed in a green jail uniform that read “KCSO JAIL” on the back of the shirt, was brought into the courtroom alone and handcuffed after 11 other defendants were brought in and seated in the jury box moments before.
Television news crews from Seattle lined the back of the courtroom, as print reporters watched from benches just behind the first bench occupied by roughly a half dozen whispering attorneys.
Fuchs sat at the far end of the jury box, closest to the courtroom audience, and was handcuffed to a string of five other prisoners, all men.
She looked repeatedly around the courtroom, and gave a fleeting nod and smile to two family members who came in and sat down.
For most of her time in court, Fuchs — her eyes puffy and red and weighed down by dark circles — appeared to be fighting back tears. She stared down or straight ahead at the bench, pausing occasionally to wipe tears from the corner of her eyes or wipe her nose.
After her arraignment, Fuchs was again seated in the jury box and handcuffed to the line of prisoners in the first row.
She stared straight ahead, and for a long, long moment, closed her eyes. When she opened them, she tried to keep from crying and was nearly successful.
