Jury can’t reach
Norton verdict

A mistrial means the former
elementary school teacher
may face a second trial

By Linda Hosek
Star-Bulletin

A 57-year-old former Mokapu Elementary School teacher wants to live a quiet life at home after his scheduled release next week from jail for sexually assaulting a student in 1995, his attorney says.

But Lawrence J. Norton faces another trial, after jurors yesterday said they couldn't agree on whether he sexually assaulted two other students in his fourth-grade classroom in 1994 and 1995.

"We're not particularly elated," said Todd Eddins, deputy public defender. "There will be a highly publicized retrial. But he's not been convicted."

Jurors deliberated for about four days in the case, in which they did not know about Norton's previous sexual-assault conviction or his sex-offender treatment.

Circuit Judge Sandra Simms declared a mistrial and called for a new court date.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Barry Kemp said he couldn't speculate on why jurors couldn't reach a unanimous verdict.

He had argued that Norton intentionally touched the buttocks of two students on three occasions. He also said Norton opened his classroom during recesses to lure female students and gave them candy.

Eddins said Norton touched students only in positive ways and believed in the therapeutic power of hugs.

"Teachers and coaches with significant contact with children should not recoil at the notion of hugging them," he said. "I hope this trial doesn't put a chilling factor on such behavior."

Eddins said Norton is scheduled for release from jail on Monday after serving a one-year term imposed by Simms from a separate case.

She also sentenced him to five years probation.

He said Norton has received treatment in jail and will continue to receive it as a condition of his probation.

"Mr. Norton just wants to live a quiet life without being a poster boy for Megan's Law," he said, referring to a federal law requiring community notification of convicted sex offenders.

Norton pleaded no contest in December 1995 to third-degree sexual assault, but didn't admit to specific offenses. The state alleged that he fondled the breast of an 11-year-old student earlier that year.

He declined to testify in his trial, after Simms ruled that the prosecutor could ask if Norton was attracted to girls age 13 and under.

Kemp said a therapist would testify that Norton had indicated his preference for adolescent girls on a form.

The state Department of Education suspended Norton in January 1995 and fired him April 18, 1996.

A 12-year-old who testified last week against Norton said what began as a hug ended with two of Norton's fingers in her rear pocket for five to 10 seconds.

But she also said she continued to hug him for the next three months until police investigated Norton for a separate allegation.

A jury last month took two hours to acquit a Kainalu Elementary teacher of sexually assaulting two students on four occasions in 1994 and 1996.

But Ryan Sueoka, the teacher, said he had appropriate physical contact with students.

He said the contact included bear hugs, letting students sit on his knee and patting their buttocks in class when he excused them.