Jury acquits former day care teacher in indecent exposure case

A New London jury deliberated less than an hour today before delivering a not guilty verdict in the case of a former teacher at the Treasure Chest Day Care in Noank who had been accused of exposing himself to children.

Joshua Bohmier, 35, of Francestown, NH, was ecstatic.

"It's been such a long process," he said.

Bohmier had been charged last year with four counts of risk of injury to a minor and four counts of public indecency. He allegedly exposed his penis to four children at the daycare center.

In taking the case to trial, he rejected the state's offer to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence that included prison time and registry as a sex offender.

As the case was headed to trial, one of the alleged victims, a boy, declined to testify, and one count of each charge was dismissed.

Three little girls did take the witness stand earlier this week, telling the six member jury that they thought they had seen Bohmier's private parts. Judge Arthur C. Hadden dismissed one of the girl's complaints before the case went to the jury, since the 8-year-old had not given specific enough information about what she saw.

Defense attorney Michael A. Blanchard had picked apart the state's case during cross-examination of witnesses and by calling on a psychologist to testify about the difficulty of evaluating the veracity of children's complaints of sexual abuse. Bohmier had testified on his own behalf that he never exposed himself or had a "wardrobe malfunction" and that he was never sexually aroused at the day care center, where he was the head teacher.

"I'm just happy the jury did what they took an oath to do," he said after the verdict was announced. "I know Josh is very pleased with the verdict and he can start putting his life back together."

Prosecutor Theresa Anne Ferryman, who had acknowledged the state did not have a strong case, was not immediately available for comment.