BOSTON – A federal appeals court has overturned the rape conviction of a former teacher at a private center for emotionally troubled children in New Hampshire.

In a 2-1 decision, the court said Raymond Ellsworth’s trial was flawed because he was limited in his ability to defend himself. It said a U.S. district judge erred when he dismissed Ellsworth’s appeal. The court gave New Hampshire 60 days to order a new trial or release him.

A call to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office after business hours Friday was not returned.

In 1995, Ellsworth, formerly of Gilford, N.H., was sentenced in Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord, N.H., to 181/2 to 37 years in prison after he was convicted on two counts of rape and five counts of felonious sexual assault. He was accused of raping and molesting a boy at the Spaulding Youth Center in Northwood, N.H., in 1992 when he was a teacher there.

“This case tremendously disturbs this court,” wrote U.S. Senior Circuit Judge Betty Fletcher for the majority. “The crimes, if they occurred, deserve substantial punishment – and indeed, they may have happened. But if we were to uphold this conviction, we would be doing so on the testimony, and only the testimony, of a very disturbed young boy.”

After the New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld the conviction in 1998, Ellsworth appealed to the U.S. District Court in Concord, claiming his 6th Amendment and 14th Amendment rights were violated at trial.

In the appeal, Ellsworth said he was wrongfully prohibited from questioning the accuser about prior sexual experiences that would have provided sufficient knowledge to fabricate the accusations.

He said he was denied access to exculpatory materials and was not allowed to present testimony from a witness who saw the accuser make false accusations of sexual voyeurism against others.

The District Court agreed with Ellsworth, but ruled the errors were harmless and did not warrant overturning the verdict.

The Appeals Court disagreed.

“There was no corroboration of the boy’s testimony as to the criminal acts themselves,” the court said. “The jury had no information that would help it to test the boy’s credibility because much relevant, probative and useful information was withheld from it.

“The possibility that an innocent man was convicted is very real.”

U.S. Circuit Judge Juan R. Torruella sided with the majority.

In his dissent, U.S. Circuit Judge Kermit V. Lipez said disturbed young victims and uncorroborated victim testimony of sexual abuse are commonplace in sexual abuse trials.

“For the most part, the majority has transformed unremarkable evidentiary rulings into constitutional violations of such severity that … Ellsworth’s state court convictions must be vacated,” he wrote.