For months from his prison cell, former Woodside Elementary School teacher Joseph Martin sent letters to his former school district’s attorney to help build a defense against the dozen boys who are suing Mt. Diablo Unified over its alleged failures to protect them from Martin’s abuse.

Martin, 47, of Martinez, is serving 12 years in a Central Valley prison for molesting seven boys he taught at a Concord school between 2007 and 2013. He is not named in the lawsuit.

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Still, Stanford law professor Deborah Rhode said defending the touching of a convicted molester is rare. Most school districts in such cases acknowledge the abuse and then fight in court over whether the district had advance warning or could have prevented it.

“The fact pattern of this case in its entirety is what’s so bizarre,” Rhode said.

However, she said if that’s the district’s position, signing a common interest agreement would make sense.

“It’s taking that position once he’s been convicted in a criminal court that’s odd,” Rhode said.