Now that the criminal case alleging an illicit sexual relationship between him and a teenager is over, former Newtown High School choral director John Harned is free to continue teaching if he wishes, his lawyer said.

"There's no prohibition," said Brian Woolf, an East Hartford lawyer representing Harned.

Prosecutors in state Superior Court in Norwich have declined to pursue the sexual assault case against Harned, 33, of West Hartford, due to a lack of evidence that the relationship he maintained with a teenager he was giving voice lessons to last year was illegal and also because the teen refused to testify, according to Woolf.

"The state understood and realize it was a huge hurdle," the lawyer said.

Prosecutors could not be reached for comment. A court clerk confirmed that the officials entered a nolle prosequi, Latin for "will not prosecute," for the sexual assault charges in court Tuesday.

Instead, Harned pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine, which acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence to likely secure a conviction, to a misdemeanor charge of second-degree violating the conditions of release.

Those charges were lodged after Harned, out on bond in that case, was found to have been in communication with the teenager alleged to have been the victim in the case, prompting his rearrest earlier this year, officials said.

By pleading guilty to the misdemeanor in court on Tues., Dec. 13, Harned received a conditional discharge, which requires that he not initiate contact with the teen, who is now 18-years-old, and not violate any laws of the state of Connecticut for the next two years, else he will be sent to prison to serve a nine-month sentence.

Harned had been the choral director at Newtown High School where he had worked since 2005 until 2010 when he abruptly resigned after being placed on administrative leave.

Apparently parents had complained to district officials about the appearance of an inappropriate relationship between Harned and a female student, although Newtown police were made aware of the allegations but Harned was never charged in the case.

"There was never an inappropriate relationship between Mr. Harned and any student while at Newtown High School," said Woolf, whose son also attended Newtown High School and was one of Harned's students while there.

Woolf also said that Newtown attempted to bring up the alleged relationship when it tried to deny unemployment compensation to Harned but the hearing officer ruled in favor of his client.

Newtown school district human resources director, Joan Libby, confirmed that officials did object to Harned receiving unemployment compensation and that they lost, but she said she did not remember the reason they used to argue the case.

After leaving Newtown, Harned went to work for the Spirit of Broadway Theater in Norwich and also applied for a teaching job at West Hartford where he told administrators the reason he left Newtown was because he wanted to work closer to home, West Hartford officials said.

At the Norwich theater, he met a 17-year-old girl who was a fellow actor at the theater, and through an arrangement with her father, began giving the girl voice lessons, and their relationship later evolved into a sexual one, according to Norwich police, which arrested Harned on second-degree sexual assault charges after learning of the relationship.

The legal age of consent in Connecticut is 16-years-old, although the law does prohibit a coach or teacher from entering into a sexual relationship with a student who is younger than 18-years-old.

Woolf maintains that Harned was not a coach, and if they maintained a relationship, it would have been a consensual one.

"They were two people, co-actors," Woolf said, adding that he received a letter from the teenager saying that she did not support Harned's prosecution.

Woolf told West Hartford Patch that Harned had received a job offer from a West Hartford school prior to his arrest but that the offer was withdrawn after the case was brought to light, however, Rich Ledwith, West Hartford school district's human resources executive director, said that was not true.

Harned was interviewed for a job in West Hartord prior to his arrest but district officials decided to go another way and never extended a job offer, Ledwith said.

Woolf later told Patch that he only repeated what he had been told about the job offer. He declined to comment when asked where Harned was working and whether he was teaching.

Harned could not be reached for comment.