Teacher’s hug went
too far, student says

The former teacher's action,
a prosecutor says, was
'clearly not an accident'

By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin

A 15-year-old girl said yesterday that a former elementary school teacher rested his hand on her buttocks three years ago and "it didn't feel comfortable."

The teen was testifying at the retrial of Lawrence Norton, a former fourth-grade teacher accused of fondling the buttocks of two students three times at Mokapu Elementary School in late 1994 and early 1995.

Norton's first trial ended in a hung jury last May.

The girl testified in Circuit Judge Elwin Ahu's courtroom that she and other students would go to Norton's classroom during recess.

They would hug him when they left.

One day in late 1994, "he took his left hand and started on the rib cage and went down," said the girl, whose military family has since moved to the mainland.

"He rubbed down and stopped on my butt. ... It (his hand) was still about five seconds. ... I moved. It didn't feel comfortable."

Norton, 57, has already served a one-year prison sentence after pleading no contest in November 1995 to an earlier charge that he fondled a girl's breasts.

He was released from prison last May.

Jurors in the latest trial will not be told about the conviction.

The girl, who had the flu and yawned a number of times, marked a diagram to show that Norton rested his hand below the small of her back, and at the top of her buttocks.

She will continue her testimony this morning.

The other girl's testimony will follow.

In his opening statement, Deputy Public Defender Todd Eddins said Norton was a teacher "who innocently touched these girls."

City Deputy Prosecutor Barry Kemp said outside court that touching the girls' buttocks was "clearly not an accident."

Norton was hired at Mokapu in 1990 and was dismissed last year.