MERCED -- A Merced County judge is scheduled to determine later this month whether there's ample evidence to try a Livingston High teacher accused with having sex with her teenage student.
Judge Marc Garcia this week set an Aug. 30 preliminary hearing date in the case of Melody Carter-McCabe, 27, who's charged with nine felony counts of unlawful sex with the boy.
Prosecutors say the boy was 15 years old in September 2010 when the 11-month relationship began. He's now 17 years old.
During a brief hearing Monday, Garcia granted a motion by defense attorney Jeffrey Tenenbaum to allow two computers logged as evidence to be returned to Carter- McCabe.
But Garcia denied a defense motion to return a cell phone to the defendant.
Deputy District Attorney Monika Saini objected to the motion because Merced County sheriff's detectives are still looking at several text messages that were deleted on the phone. Saini said the examination of the phone is taking time because of the abundance of deleted messages.
Saini did say the phone would be returned to the defendant after detectives are done examining the messages.
According to sheriff's reports, Carter-McCabe was the boy's FFA mentor when the encounters began. According to the student's statements to sheriff's detectives, the interactions with Carter- McCabe were numerous and primarily took place at her home.
Carter-McCabe has pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains free on bail.
If convicted on all counts, she faces a maximum of 12 years in prison.
City Editor Victor A. Patton
can be reached at (209) 385-2431
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