A former football coach and teacher at a Madison County school will face time behind bars for a sex crime against a minor
District Attorney Bubba Bramlett announced that Marchenne Nyree Hatchett, 46, was convicted by a Madison County jury of one count of sexual battery. Hatchett was employed at Old Town Middle School in Ridgeland, and his victim was his student.
Hatchett is accused of engaging in sexual contact with a then 14-year-old female student while they were in school in February. The child’s mother became aware of the allegation and notified school personnel approximately one week after the incident.
Officials with the school were able to pull video surveillance from the school that confirmed Hatchett and his victim were outside of the classroom during class time which corroborated the victim’s timeline of events.
School officials turned all surveillance tapes over to the Ridgeland Police Department after confirming with the victim as to what had occurred. The student disclosed that the contact had only occurred one time while she was in the former teacher’s class.
The case was indicted by a Madison County grand jury in May for a single count of sexual battery and proceeded to trial on Monday.
After hearing testimony from both the victim and school personnel, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty. Hatchett will be sentenced on November 13.
Hatchett faces up to 30 years in prison. All time will be served without the possibility of early release or parole. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
