Teh One Who Knocks
03-13-2012, 01:47 PM
By Curtis Krueger - Tampa Bay Times
LARGO | Former Lakewood High School band director Raphael McLean went on trial this week, accused of having sex with a 15-year-old student in his office inside the band room.
But his attorney, Val Shealey, offered a novel defense: that McLean had sex there with an adult, not a student; specifically with a guidance counselor.
And on Wednesday that guidance counselor, Danielle Johnson, testified, "I performed oral sex on Mr. McLean in his office." She said she did so twice, in the winter of 2010.
She said she was testifying because "I just want to do what's right." Afterward, she went to school board headquarters and resigned.
For the defense, Johnson's testimony provided a possible explanation of why McLean's semen was found on the desk and chair in his office — because of a secret encounter with a fellow adult, not a criminal encounter with a child.
For the Tampa Bay area, it was another weird twist in the annals of teachers committing questionable and sometimes illegal sexual acts.
But to Assistant State Attorney Christopher LaBruzzo the case provided clear evidence McLean, who was married, had sex with the 15-year-old girl, and "he did so on campus, in his office in the middle of the day."
McLean, 28, extolled by his attorney as a former member of the famed Florida A&M marching band, was a popular teacher and band director at Lakewood, even a father figure for some students. His band room often filled with youths.
The student, now a 17-year-old college-bound senior, said McLean frequently complimented her and eventually began talking about sex. Her name is withheld from this report because of the nature of the allegations.
"He asked me if I was to do it with anybody in the school, who would it be? I said Mr. McLean," she testified Tuesday.
At one point, she said, he gave her a hall pass out of geometry class and into band, during his planning period. That's when she took off her pants and they had intercourse on his desk, she said.
She said she didn't tell anyone about it, because she was worried that "people would look at me differently."
The girl testified that the sex was consensual, but LaBruzzo told jurors it didn't matter under the law — having sex with someone over 12 and under 16 made him guilty of lewd or lascivious battery, he said.
Experts testified that McLean's semen was found on his desk and chair in his office. But Johnson's testimony muddied the waters about how it got there. LaBruzzo said the case ultimately boiled down to whether jurors found the student credible, and he stressed that she was.
Shealey disagreed, pointing out that the girl at first denied to police that any sex occurred, and that she "wavered" in estimating how many minutes the intercourse lasted. He also criticized prosecutors for failing to bring her hall passes into evidence, or proof that she had been enrolled in the geometry class.
Johnson, 36, the guidance counselor, will not be subject to an investigation by the School Board, because she resigned the same day that she testified.
A detective told district officials about a month ago that there would be alibi testimony in McLean's case, but they were not told the witness was a school employee, said Pinellas schools spokeswoman Melanie Marquez. Then, on Monday, Marquez said, the district's Office of Professional Standards was told that Johnson was the alibi witness, but "the office was not told what the content of her testimony would be."
Marquez said no one at the district was aware of Johnson's earlier deposition in the case.
Johnson was hired in August 2000 as a teacher at Madeira Beach Fundamental Middle School. In March 2009, she started as a guidance counselor at BayPoint Middle and then transferred to Lakewood in August of 2009. She has no disciplinary actions in her file, Marquez said.
LARGO | Former Lakewood High School band director Raphael McLean went on trial this week, accused of having sex with a 15-year-old student in his office inside the band room.
But his attorney, Val Shealey, offered a novel defense: that McLean had sex there with an adult, not a student; specifically with a guidance counselor.
And on Wednesday that guidance counselor, Danielle Johnson, testified, "I performed oral sex on Mr. McLean in his office." She said she did so twice, in the winter of 2010.
She said she was testifying because "I just want to do what's right." Afterward, she went to school board headquarters and resigned.
For the defense, Johnson's testimony provided a possible explanation of why McLean's semen was found on the desk and chair in his office — because of a secret encounter with a fellow adult, not a criminal encounter with a child.
For the Tampa Bay area, it was another weird twist in the annals of teachers committing questionable and sometimes illegal sexual acts.
But to Assistant State Attorney Christopher LaBruzzo the case provided clear evidence McLean, who was married, had sex with the 15-year-old girl, and "he did so on campus, in his office in the middle of the day."
McLean, 28, extolled by his attorney as a former member of the famed Florida A&M marching band, was a popular teacher and band director at Lakewood, even a father figure for some students. His band room often filled with youths.
The student, now a 17-year-old college-bound senior, said McLean frequently complimented her and eventually began talking about sex. Her name is withheld from this report because of the nature of the allegations.
"He asked me if I was to do it with anybody in the school, who would it be? I said Mr. McLean," she testified Tuesday.
At one point, she said, he gave her a hall pass out of geometry class and into band, during his planning period. That's when she took off her pants and they had intercourse on his desk, she said.
She said she didn't tell anyone about it, because she was worried that "people would look at me differently."
The girl testified that the sex was consensual, but LaBruzzo told jurors it didn't matter under the law — having sex with someone over 12 and under 16 made him guilty of lewd or lascivious battery, he said.
Experts testified that McLean's semen was found on his desk and chair in his office. But Johnson's testimony muddied the waters about how it got there. LaBruzzo said the case ultimately boiled down to whether jurors found the student credible, and he stressed that she was.
Shealey disagreed, pointing out that the girl at first denied to police that any sex occurred, and that she "wavered" in estimating how many minutes the intercourse lasted. He also criticized prosecutors for failing to bring her hall passes into evidence, or proof that she had been enrolled in the geometry class.
Johnson, 36, the guidance counselor, will not be subject to an investigation by the School Board, because she resigned the same day that she testified.
A detective told district officials about a month ago that there would be alibi testimony in McLean's case, but they were not told the witness was a school employee, said Pinellas schools spokeswoman Melanie Marquez. Then, on Monday, Marquez said, the district's Office of Professional Standards was told that Johnson was the alibi witness, but "the office was not told what the content of her testimony would be."
Marquez said no one at the district was aware of Johnson's earlier deposition in the case.
Johnson was hired in August 2000 as a teacher at Madeira Beach Fundamental Middle School. In March 2009, she started as a guidance counselor at BayPoint Middle and then transferred to Lakewood in August of 2009. She has no disciplinary actions in her file, Marquez said.