The jury heard opening arguments this morning in the child molestation case of Thomas Harold Blevins, the former Lakeview Middle School band instructor.
Blevins is accused of molesting two underage girls, allegations that surfaced after the father of a third girl said that Blevins sent inappropriate text messages to his daughter in November 2012.
Prosecutors say Blevins enticed girls into a storage room near his class when nobody was around. Blevins is accused of taking off their clothes, kissing them and fondling their breasts. He is also accused of making one girl perform oral sex on him.
"She doesn't feel like she can get away," Assistant District Attorney Alan Norton told the Catoosa County jury this morning. "He's bigger than her. He used to be her teacher."
Blevins' attorney, Chris Townley, said his client was a passionate band teacher dedicated to reaching his students. He tried to communicate on "their level." He acted silly to build a rapport with them.
Townley said Blevins' goofy behavior is now being used to make him seem creepy. He said investigators seized on the initial allegations and then were looking for more evidence to prove their point, falling victim to confirmation bias.
Thomas Blevins, a former Lakeview Middle School band teacher accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student, appears before Judge Jon "Bo" Wood during the first day of trial at the Catoosa County Courthouse on August 11, 2015. He said the victims' stories have changed with time and run counter to some of the evidence.
"You get caught up in the emotions of this case and don't use your brain, you're gonna miss the truth," Townley told the jury.
Blevins faces six counts of sexual assault by a teacher, six counts of child molestation, two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes, two counts of false imprisonment and one count of aggravated child molestation.
The lawyers expect the trial to run through the beginning of next week.