RINGGOLD, Ga. — With a sweeping motion of his hands, an attorney for a former kindergarten teacher charged with child molestation used the words of an old spiritual to make his point to jurors.
“The facts in this case will show it’s the defense that put in overwhelming, gut-wrenching time to bring you the whole picture … not neckbone connected to the backbone,” Demosthenes Lorandos told the jury Tuesday.
Mr. Lorandos, one of four attorneys representing Tonya Craft, said the prosecution’s evidence in the case is weak.
But state prosecutors in opening arguments Tuesday used graphic details to describe how it plans to show that Ms. Craft molested three children.
Ms. Craft, a former Chickamauga Elementary School teacher, faces 22 counts of child molestation, aggravated sexual battery and aggravated child molestation.