RINGGOLD, Ga. -- With thick-framed glasses, the child psychologist on the stand peered at the typed transcripts from interviews with children alleging a former kindergarten teacher molested them.
"It ap-peared that the little girls were influenced and got (their) information from their parents," Dr. William Bernet said Tuesday during the trial of Tonya Craft.
One of Ms. Craft's defense attorneys asked the psychologist how he came to that conclusion.
"Because they said so," responded Dr. Bernet, a professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University.
Ms. Craft, a former Chickamauga Elementary School teacher, is charged with 22 counts of child molestation, aggravated sexual battery and aggravated child molestation. The charges involve three girls.
Dr. Bernet testified that, after reviewing all the interviews with the girls, he came to the conclusion that outside factors including "parental influence," "rumors," "interviewers" and "children blaming" resulted in common child behavior -- touching each other -- turning into "serious allegations."
During his testimony, Dr. Bernet explained that he thought the children were influenced by their parents. He cited several interviews conducted with the alleged victims, including when one of the girls told Catoosa County Sheriff's Office Detective Tim Deal in June 2008 that, after talking to him, her mom said she would get a toy.
"If that's the truth, that would be very significant to Detective Deal," Dr. Bernet said. Such a statement is a "good example of what sounds like parental influence," he said.
Dr. Bernet pointed out that the detective tried to clear up the situation and make sure the child wasn't promised a toy to talk about Ms. Craft. But the detective asked a question that led the child to agree that she was getting the toy because "it's hard" to talk about what happened to her, the doctor testified.
"When interviewers have preconceptions, they ask very leading questions," Dr. Bernet said.
During Detective Deal's cross-examination in the second week of the trial, he testified that he questioned the girl enough to be satisfied that she wasn't getting a toy just because she was saying that Ms. Craft touched her.
Dr. Bernet went through each girl's interview before cross-examination began mid-afternoon.
During the cross-examination, Assistant District Attorney Chris Arnt pointed out that the child also went to get her medical exam the same day as the interview.
When Mr. Arnt asked if it's normal for children to receive "doctor prizes" after getting a medical exam, Dr. Bernet agreed it was.
When Dr. Bernet reviewed the girls' previous interviews with local social workers, he said it was apparent the girls had been touching each another. He testified that this was "normal behavior" for young children to engage in.
When the children were caught engaging in this behavior, the parents began to grill them to find out what happened, he testified.
Mr. Arnt asked if Dr. Bernet meant it was acceptable behavior for children to engage in.
"I don't think most people think it's OK," he said. "But it's a normal thing for kids to do."
Dr. Bernet testified he has done more than 1,000 interviews with alleged victims in his career, and that he had noticed many places in the girls' interviews where it appeared the social worker or detective led them with questioning.
During a May 2008 interview with the first girl who came forward with molestation accusations, Dr. Bernet said he noticed that "the most dramatic aspect is the interviewer has a style of saying, 'Is there anything else you can tell me?'"
Defense attorney Demosthenes Lorandos asked why that concerned him.
"It's communicating to the child, 'What you have told me isn't enough,'" he said.
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