Prosecutors have dropped a case against a teacher texting explicit material to a 13-year-old student, but not for lack of evidence. The District Attorney's Office stated that an appeals court ruled "sexting" as free speech.
The Washington Times reports that Tarrant County Attorney's Office dropped the case against junior high school teacher Sean Arlis Williams in the Dallas suburb of Everman.
The DA's Spokesman said their decision not to pursue the case was because of an earlier state ruling in October by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
The earlier case also concerned another teacher, Houston's Mark Bennett, sending explicit text messages to students. His attorney argued the statute was too broad.
Fox Dallas reports that the previous ruling stated that a certain amount of sexting with a minor without breaking the law.
"They dropped the ball," said defense attorney Jim Shaw. "It doesn't sufficiently define the law."
Williams was arrested in 2012 for exchanging sexual images and language via text messages, and was being charged with an improper relationship between teacher and student.
Apparently, the texts discussed if either of them walked around naked in their homes, and exchanged pictures of themselves shirtless.
However, because Williams isn't accused of trying to meet with the student to solicit sex, he didn't technically break the law.