Judge rejects ex-teacher's bid for new trial in molestation case

A judge Friday turned down a request for a new trial by a former Escondido teacher serving a sentence of 15 years to life in prison after being convicted in 2006 of molesting male students.

Lawyers for Peter Ziskin, 49, a former teacher at Rincon Middle School, had sought a new trial on grounds that his trial counsel was ineffective and that one of the alleged victims had recanted.

San Diego County Superior Court Judge Runston Maino, sitting in the Vista branch of the court, said he did not find the defense strategy during the trial to have been ineffective. Among other things, Ziskin took his attorney's advice not to testify, he noted.

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