Posted on 11/08/2003 7:29:57 AM PST by Theodore R.
Defense accuses Amarillo teen of obsessing over, stalking teacher
BY DEREK MAY AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
An Amarillo girl was so obsessed with a teacher that she stalked him and created stories of secret meetings with sexual contact, a defense attorney said Friday.
David A. Brown, 45, of Amarillo is being tried in Lubbock on five charges of indecency with a child from Randall County. The trial was moved because of pretrial publicity in Amarillo.
Prosecutors say Brown fondled a 16-year-old Tascosa High School student on six occasions between Dec. 15, 2002, and Jan. 8 during rendezvous away from school property.
Two of the alleged meetings occurred in Potter County, and Brown has not been charged in those cases.
Brown taught world history and geography at Tascosa and coached the cross country team. The Amarillo school district fired him after he was indicted on the sex charges.
"You were obsessed with Coach Brown, weren't you?," Amarillo defense attorney Bill Kelly asked the girl during her second day on the stand.
She denied being obsessed or in love with Brown but admitted that she needed to see him.
Kelly asked the girl to recall the student-teacher relationship they developed while she attended his classes in the ninth and 10th grades.
She agreed that she liked him enough to ask him if she could be his teacher's aide in the summer of 2002, prior to her junior year. She became his teacher's aide during fourth period, which is near lunch hour.
Over time, she became comfortable going to him for advice about school and problems with her father, she testified.
She occasionally would visit Brown's classroom in a portable building behind the school, sometimes after school hours.
Kelly insinuated through questioning that the girl sometimes would park in places so she would have to walk past Brown's office to get into school.
The girl, who now is 17, said she had two after-hours meetings with Brown in his classroom during which he counseled her about school. In both cases, parents found her there and were upset with her and Brown.
On Nov. 1, 2002, the girl was given instructions by school officials that she was to have no further contact with him.
She confirmed during questioning that she continued to initiate meetings at school and elsewhere.
Kelly suggested the girl spent an inordinate amount of time in the area near Brown's home, but she claimed she was in that part of town because of the stores in the area.
Kelly accused the girl of changing her story over the last several months. She admitted that when initially questioned about their relationship by school officials and police on Jan. 13, she said he only touched her breasts.
Testimony is scheduled to resume Wednesday.
derek.may@lubbocklonline.com 766-8635
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