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Prosecutor: Teacher-student marriage a 'sham'

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ONEONTA, Ala. (AP) — A prosecutor has blasted the marriage of a former teacher and his former student, calling it a "sham" designed to keep the woman from having to testify against him.

Citing court records filed Monday, Al.com (http://bit.ly/1qtAUuU ) reports that Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey is asking that the 18-year-old wife of Matthew Shane Wester be required to testify against her 38-year-old husband.

Casey says no marital privilege exists in cases where one spouse is the victim of the other.

Wester, a former Cleveland High School math teacher, was indicted in January 2015 on one count of a school employee having sexual contact with a student under the age of 19. Five months later, Wester married that student. The Associated Press generally doesn't name alleged victims of sexual crimes.

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