More than ten years after the initial sexual abuse case against a former high school tennis coach was declared a mistrial, the school district of Marin County, California, has paid $17.5 million to four former students who accused the coach of abusing them while they were on the team. In 2006, Alex Harrison, 38, was the first student that came forward to tell the police about the events at Tamalpais High School in the affluent neighborhood of Mill Valley.
Harrison, who had been a star player on the tennis team, said he was not believed by anyone when he first testified against the high profile coach and gym teacher, Normandie Burgos, 61. During the trial, Harrison’s teammates, friends, and their parents showed up in support Burgos. At one point, they snickered at Harrison so loudly the judge threatened to remove them, according to court papers obtained by The New York Times .
The criminal case ended in a mistrial in 2010, resulting in Harrison being blackballed in his sporting community. Burgos was later convicted of molesting two more star tennis players, and was eventually found guilty of 60 counts of child molestation. He is now serving a 255-year prison sentence.
Only in recent years since Burgos’s mistrial have some states such as New York , California, and New Jersey temporarily lifted statutes of limitations to allow adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file civil cases. After initially testifying as John Doe to protect his identity, Harrison went public in.
