INSIDE EDITION talks to teacher Jodi Barrus, who has been exonerated by a jury after a student falsely claimed Barrus had sex with him.
It was the moment 33-year-old Jodi Barrus had been waiting for. She was pronounced not guilty of a shocking crime.
"He accused me of having sex with him in my own home, while my children were here. And I didn't know what to do," Barrus told INSIDE EDITION.
Barrus is a high school teacher who was accused of having sex with a student. Her mug shot appeared on in newspapers and on televisions across the country.
"My face was on the five o'clock news. That mug shot, I was sick to my stomach, I wanted to throw up," said Barrus.
The charge was for felony sexual exploitation. The married mother of four found herself the latest statistic in a nationwide epidemic of teachers accused of having sex with their students.
The case against Barrus sounded like so many recent headlines. A young, attractive teacher, accused of having sex with one of her students. But there's one big difference in this particular case: None of the allegations were true.
"In the back of your mind you think, 'What if I go to jail? And I lose my children.' I had a lot of sleepless nights," said Barrus.
The student told cops he had had sex with Barrus no less than three times in her bedroom.
But when he was put on the stand, he couldn't describe what the inside of her home looked like and his best friend called him a compulsive liar.
The courtroom burst into cheers when it took the jury 20 minutes to find Barrus not guilty.
She says the high school senior had made the whole thing up because he was mad that she wouldn't go to the prom with him.
Barrus says the student sent her a text that read, "Will U Go 2 Prom With Me?"
"My first reaction was, 'I'm your teacher, it's not going to happen.' You know, 'Will you please stop text messaging me,'" explained Barrus.
Despite her acquittal, she says she'll forever be known as a teacher accused of having sex with a student. Her story is now featured in the May issue of Glamour magazine.
Barrus has said she is considering filing civil lawsuits against a number of parties, including school officials.
