2 Denver students say their middle school teacher gave them pot brownies. She’s now on trial.
Sharon Wilson admitted to making pot brownies in the past, but said the ones she gave her students were regular baked goods, her attorney said.
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Two kids are testifying against their former English teacher in Denver County Court this week, alleging she gave them brownies laced with marijuana as an academic reward.
Sharon Wilson, a former English teacher at Denver’s Kepner Beacon Middle School, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor child abuse following a 2024 incident in which two students she rewarded with brownies alleged the baked goods were — unbeknownst to them — laced with marijuana.
Attorneys for 55-year-old Wilson argued in court Wednesday that the brownies did not have any drugs in them, but were a previous batch she defrosted that may have been freezer-burned. She admitted to making pot brownies in the past, but said the ones she gave her students were regular baked goods, her attorney said.
Wilson was placed on paid administrative leave at the end of the 2023-2024 school year, according to a statement from Denver Public Schools spokesman Scott Pribble, which noted that this was standard procedure until “a matter is resolved.” Wilson “separated” from DPS before the start of the 2024-2025 school year, Pribble said.
“This is a case about missing links,” Wilson’s attorney, Ethan Ice, said during the jury trial’s opening statements Wednesday.
Denver prosecutors and the accused agreed during testimony that the two boys — who The Denver Post are not naming because they are minors — won a contest in Wilson’s class to come up with the most Greek and Latin root words. For their reward, Wilson promised them brownies.
Wilson was known for bringing homemade baked goods to school. The 13-year-old who testified Wednesday said he enjoyed Wilson’s brownies in the past.
However, when Wilson gave the kids homemade brownies on June 3, 2024, they had “a weird sour” taste, the 13-year-old testified. He said he didn’t like the baked good and put it back in the plastic bag it came in, saving the rest in his backpack.
The boy told the jury he didn’t tell Wilson about the offensive taste because “he didn’t want to be mean to her.”
The child testified that after he ate some of the brownie, his head hurt and things were “starting to look a little weird,” such as objects appeared to spin. The child said he ate an unusual amount of fried chicken and macaroni and cheese upon returning home, took a long nap and started feeling better.
He denied ever using marijuana at school, although he admitted other students at the middle school did.
“I am telling the truth,” the child testified after being asked if he was truthful in saying where he got the brownie from.
According to prosecutors, the other child — who had not yet taken the stand by mid-afternoon — thought the brownie smelled and tasted like marijuana. After eating it, that child felt nauseous and “really out of it” and had to have his friends help him to his mom’s car when the school day was finished, prosecutor Brad Watts told jurors.
His mom noticed her son had bloodshot eyes and was acting unusually. She asked her son if he took drugs, and he said no, Watts said.
She contacted his teacher, asking what ingredients were in the brownies and sharing that her son had fallen ill after eating them. Wilson’s attorney said the teacher responded with no mention of marijuana and “genuine concern” for her student’s safety.
Mom took her son to the hospital and then called the principal at Kepner Beacon Middle School, Watts said.
The principal contacted both parents the following day and said there was an incident involving the two boys, pot brownies and Wilson.
The mother of the 13-year-old student who saved part of the brownie in his backpack took the leftovers to the police department, reported the situation and had the brownie tested. According to Watts, the brownie came back positive for THC.
“We’re going to ask you return a guilty verdict on both counts of child abuse,” Watts said to the jury, noting one count is for negligently causing bodily injury and one count is for negligence with no bodily injury.
Ice argued there was no motive and no bad feelings on Wilson’s behalf that would motivate her to drug her students.
The trial was expected to continue through the rest of the week.
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