ASPEN, Colo. (AP) - An Aspen yoga teacher is headed to trial next month on charges of groping his students in yoga postures.

A lawyer for 48-year-old Steven Jon Roger says any contact between the yoga teacher and his students was a routine part of his yoga instruction.

The case goes to trial after Roger refused a plea deal on Tuesday. Roger refused the deal to plead guilty on two misdemeanor charges of sexual contact without consent. The yoga teacher said he wouldn't plead guilty because the convictions would have resulted in a lifetime on the Colorado Sex Offender Registry.

Prosecutors say the contact between Roger and his students was under their clothes - not a part of routine yoga instruction. A jury trial will be scheduled for March.
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