HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — The trial for a Henrico middle school teacher accused of sexual assault has been declared a mistrial.
Dean Lakey, a former gym teacher at Short Pump Middle School was arrested in North Carolina in 2021 after he was accused of sexually assaulting a student during the 2016-2017 school year.
He was originally charged with one count of rape, two counts of forcible sodomy and three counts of indecent liberties with a minor as a custodian, but by the trial, the charges were reduced to object sexual penetration and indecent liberties by a custodian.
Lakey and his accuser both took the stand yesterday, and today and prosecution and defense gave their closing arguments. After the closing arguments, the jury deliberated for three hours without reaching a verdict. The jury was given an additional hour of deliberation and still did not reach a verdict.
When asked if more deliberation time would help, the foreperson said, “I don’t know,” and a mistrial was declared.
A status hearing is set for 1 p.m. on Thursday, June 23. Lakey was released on his own recognizance with no monitoring.
