by Justin Story

Information gathered during the civil case against a former South Warren High School instructional assistant and coaching volunteer accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a SWHS student may be used during the man's criminal trial scheduled to begin next week.

Warren Circuit Judge John Grise Monday granted a motion Monday for reciprocal discovery made by Warren County Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Cohron in the case against John Adam Marsh.

Marsh, 29, of Scottsville, is facing trial on seven counts of first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor, seven counts of third-degree rape, seven counts of third-degree burglary and one count each of third-degree sodomy and custodial interference.

The criminal trial is set for June 21 and is expected to last three days, Cohron said.

Marsh, who was a volunteer assistant boys' basketball coach at SWHS, is accused of carrying on a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female student.

Court records in the criminal and civil cases against Marsh feature claims that he engaged in inappropriate contact with the student on Twitter beginning Feb. 1, 2014.

The relationship became physical in nature later that month, with Marsh sneaking into the student's residence after dark and leaving before her parents woke, according to court records.

The teenager's stepfather discovered Marsh on May 14, 2014, in a bathroom and wearing socks and boxer shorts, after the student's mother heard a noise coming from her bedroom around 12:30 a.m., Marsh's arrest citation states.

The stepfather confronted the man, who said he was underage and went to school with the student.

When the stepfather went to call the sheriff's office, the man jumped out a second-story window, according to the arrest report. The stepfather chased the man down the street until he lost sight of him, and when the girl's mother and stepfather returned to the house, they noticed she had left.

A search through the student's phone records and Facebook page enabled her mother and stepfather to identify Marsh as the man in the house, and Marsh turned himself in to deputies two days later, according to the arrest report.

Marsh's attorney, Alan Simpson of Bowling Green, said Monday in court that he had no objection to providing evidence from the civil file to Cohron's office ahead of trial.

"It is a voluminous case file," Simpson said. "There are a lot of depositions and additional discovery."

The student and her parents are suing Marsh, the Warren County Public Schools Board of Education, district Superintendent Rob Clayton and SWHS Principal Jenny Hester in Warren Circuit Court.

The civil action, which is scheduled for a trial early next year, alleges that the board and the administrators being sued had a responsibility to protect the student and should have known about the relationship between Marsh and the teenager.

The administrators are also accused of negligent hiring, negligent supervision and negligent investigation of allegations against Marsh.