photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Mark Gridley appears at his competency hearing Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

The Lawrence school district is asking a judge to delay a civil lawsuit against it relating to alleged child sexual abuse by one of its former employees.

In a motion filed late last week, the school district asked Douglas County Judge Catherine Theisen to stay the civil proceedings until a pending criminal case against speech pathologist Mark Gridley “is concluded by acquittal, sentencing or plea” — a process that could potentially take years.

In criminal court, Gridley is facing seven counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and seven counts of kidnapping. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing this week, when Judge Amy Hanley will decide if there is probable cause to order him to stand trial. Gridley, 61, is accused of sexually abusing seven children in February at Prairie Park Elementary School under the guise of providing speech and language therapy.

In the civil suit, the school district is accused by an elementary student, identified as “Daughter Doe,” of negligently hiring and retaining Gridley, negligently supervising him, and being vicariously liable for Gridley’s alleged sexual battery against the child — all claims that the district has denied.

Gridley is not a party to the civil lawsuit, but he is deeply “intertwined” with it, the district argued in its motion to stay, and both parties in the civil litigation will have limited access to facts and information relevant to the civil case so long as the criminal case is pending. This is because Gridley has a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, limiting evidence discovery in the civil matter, as well as a Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial, which could be impacted by a civil proceeding occurring alongside the criminal one.

If Gridley were to be deposed by the school district’s attorney, Gregory Goheen, and invoked his Fifth Amendment right after every question, the district said it would be substantially and irreparably prejudiced.

“There is complete overlap between the issues in the criminal case and those in this civil case,” the district stated in its motion, arguing additionally that Daughter Doe would suffer no prejudice by a stay but would in fact benefit by the “testimony anticipated to be introduced at trial.”

Goheen’s motion notes that the Lawrence Police Department has asked Judge Theisen to quash a subpoena in the civil case. As the Journal-World reported, LPD said releasing its full investigative file on Gridley to parties in the civil lawsuit would potentially interfere with the criminal prosecution of Gridley by the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office.

“[E]vidence relevant to these proceedings is in the exclusive control and custody of law enforcement and/or prosecutors who have objected to production of the same in these proceedings,” Goheen wrote in the motion to stay, noting LPD’s motion to quash as well as an “only recently” released and “highly redacted” amended affidavit related to Gridley’s arrest.

Gridley posted a $750,000 bond in August after his bond amount was halved from $1.5 million. He had spent about six months in jail since his Feb. 8 arrest. His preliminary hearing is scheduled to begin Thursday.