Former Ashville High School teacher Donnie McKay pleaded guilty Monday to witness intimidation and juror intimidation, both Class C felonies.McKay initially pleaded not guilty to the two charges, but changed his plea to guilty Monday before St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Charles Robinson.
Robinson sentenced McKay, 36, to serve one year, and one day for each charge. The sentences are to run concurrently with a 15-year sentence he is now serving in state prison for the 2005 rape and sodomy of a 15-year-old female Ashville High School student.
According to prosecutors, McKay tried to influence testimony in his sentencing hearing by intimidating a potential witness, and in September 2006, he threatened a juror who helped convict him a month earlier.
McKay taught at Ashville High School for three years before his contract was non-renewed May 9, 2005, by the St. Clair County Board of Education. McKay also served one year as the Ashville High girls’ varsity softball coach.
According to testimony in the criminal trial, the teacher/student relationship began while McKay was still employed By the St. Clair County School System.
McKay was employed as a Locust Fork High School teacher and junior high school football coach with the Blount County School System when he was eventually arrested Oct. 20, 2005. The Blount County Board of Education placed McKay on administrative leave after his arrest, but McKay later resigned from the School System.
A jury convicted McKay of the rape and sodomy of his former student on Aug. 31, 2006, and Robinson sentenced him to 25 years in prison in early October 2006, 15 years for rape, and 10 years for the sodomy conviction, but those sentences are running concurrently.
