Jury Deliberating in Case of Teacher Charged With Child Rape

A jury in the trial of a former western Massachusetts middle school teacher charged with child rape has started deliberations.

The Hampshire Superior Court jury weighing the case against James Parks is expected to resume deliberations Wednesday after beginning on Tuesday.

The 56-year-old Parks, of Southampton, was charged with assaulting and raping the girl over a five-year period.

He was arrested in June 2013, when he was a science teacher at West Springfield Middle School. Police say the girl wasn't a student there.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports that Parks has acknowledged that he touched the girl inappropriately over her clothes when she was between 11 and 15, but he denies rape charges.

Parks and the girl both took the witness stand at trial.