COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Marion County jury has found a special education teacher at Hayes Elementary School guilty of assaulting a student .

During the trial, prosecutors showed a video of the incident involving Jodi Grafmiller and said she was caught slapping a student with nonverbal autism in October 2024.

Grafmiller was initially charged with two misdemeanors in the case, including endangering children and assault. Weeks later, those charges were upgraded to one felony count of assault.

"Ohio law says that if an individual who is a functionally impaired person is assaulted by an individual who was in the position of a caregiver, then that assault elevates to a felony under Ohio law," said Grogan.

Prosecutors released a statement following this week's verdict.

"A classroom aide who wit

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