Former Marin tennis coach loses appeal of sex crimes conviction
SAN FRANCISCO >> Normandie Burgos, the Bay Area tennis coach who faced allegations of sexual abuse throughout his career, has lost the appeal of his child molestation conviction, court records show.
Burgos, 58, argued on appeal that his attorney, Michael Coffino, violated Burgos' rights by conceding guilt on some of the charges in his opening statements to jurors. But the trial record shows that Judge Charles Burch asked Burgos directly if he agreed with the strategy, and Burgos said he did.
“Having told the trial court that he discussed and approved this strategy, Burgos cannot now argue otherwise,” said the 12-page opinion issued in the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco.
The appeals court did overturn six lesser charges out of the 60 counts for which Burgos was convicted, noting that they addressed conduct for which
Burgos had been convicted of more serious crimes. Those reversals are unlikely to make much of a difference to Burgos, who was sentenced to 255 years to life.
Burgos' tumultuous career included being tried twice — in 2006 and 2010 — on charges of sexually abusing tennis students while he taught at Tamalpais High School. In that case, he was accused of inappropriately touching teen boys
during stretches, workouts and massages.
Burgos received an unusual amount of community support for an accused child molester during those trials, with one parent even publicly remarking that people in the Marin County area were smart enough to tell if he was an abuser.
Jurors were unable to reach verdicts in both trials, but the controversy cost Burgos his job at the high school. He went into private coaching and continued to teach underage students, traveling to Richmond to give private lessons. It was there that prosecutors say he began sexually abusing two boys, using the threat of revoking tennis gear or favorable treatment to coerce them.
When the victims came forward years later, prosecutors equipped one of them with a hidden microphone and had him arrange a meeting with Burgos. In their conversation, the boy described sexual acts with Burgos and Burgos replied, “Yeah,” and later added, “I let you do stuff to me that I don't let anybody do to me.”
Contra Costa County prosecutors charged Burgos with dozens of child molestation counts. During his trial in 2019, he testified that he only agreed with the boy because he felt intimidated by him and was raised to avoid conflict. He denied any sexual acts — consensual or not — occurred.
Burgos is serving his sentence at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, Amador County, records show.