Tue, May 13 2008
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By Lacie Morrison
lmorrison@mineralwellsindex.com
PALO PINTO – If courtroom discussion Wednesday afternoon was any indication, there could be another two days of witness testimony and deliberation in the trial of former Graford ISD coach Michael Craig Floyd.
Wednesday’s testimony opened with continued cross-examination of the alleged victim who accused Floyd of inappropriate actions when she was a junior during the 2005-06 school year.
Floyd is facing the second-degree felony charge of inappropriate relationship between educator and student. He is defended by attorneys Gary Connally and Sam Moore.
Two other Graford students took the witness stand, including one 17-year-old girl who told jurors that she experienced inappropriate contact with Floyd during her freshman year.
She alleged that Floyd occasionally rubbed her feet during bus rides from track meets when she had her feet stretched onto his seat. She said it made her feel “uncomfortable. … I did nothing, didn’t know what to do.”
The young woman also claimed that Floyd attempted to kiss her on the lips when she had come to his house to baby-sit his two children.
“He went to kiss me on the lips. I moved [and] he got the corner of my lips and cheek,” she testified. “He played it off like it was supposed to happen.”
In both instances, the 17-year-old said no one noticed or was around to witness them.
According to a hearing prior to her testimony, District Attorney Michael Burns explained her comments were not offered to defame Floyd; rather, to show a rebuttal of the defensive theory that incidents aren’t necessarily unlikely to be true because other people weren’t around to see them.
During cross-examination, Moore questioned the student about why she continued to sit near Floyd after the first alleged foot-rubbing incident if she felt uncomfortable and if she told anyone about the events.
A fellow classmate of the alleged victim took the stand Wednesday, sharing the changes she saw in her friend throughout the 2005-06 school year. Phone records also came into play again as Burns questioned her about phoning the alleged victim while visiting Floyd in Hamlin, Texas. He had the young woman examine her phone records that indicated two calls made to the alleged victim the night she was visiting Floyd.
“No, I didn’t call her that night,” she responded.
“Were you aware of anyone using your phone at that time?” queried Burns.
“No,” she replied.
The classmate also discussed a phone call between the alleged victim and Floyd that she partially overheard, though Moore pointed out that the remembered discourse provided by the classmate didn’t specifically reference the topic of their conversation.
The defense attorneys were allowed to call witnesses to Floyd’s defense in the midst of the state’s testimonies as they were short testimonies and had driven from long distances.
Connally called three coaches from other districts and Graford ISD’s former library aide to testify in defense of Floyd. According to their various testimonies, Floyd was interviewed on May 9 by the Giddings ISD athletic director Derek Fitzhenry. That day, according to the alleged victim’s testimony Tuesday, was the day that Floyd allegedly kissed her. Whitharral ISD coach Bobby Avery testified that Floyd, a former neighbor in another district, spent the night at his home that evening. Avery told jurors Floyd arrived around 10 p.m.
“I’m 100 percent sure he left for Seagraves, [Texas] … to an interview on May 10,” Avery stated. Another coach confirmed that he interviewed Floyd on May 10.
The last witness of the day was the alleged victim’s mother, Susan DeArmond, who first described their home life before discussing the 2005-06 school year.
Burns asked, “Did you become aware [in the first semester] the Bible history class had dwindled down to just the defendant and your daughter?”
DeArmond calculated that she learned of it in November.
“My concern was having a male and a female one-on-one, with no one else in the gym at the time,” she said.
As she described her daughter’s behavior and the class situation, she told the jury, “She defended the situation. She didn’t feel it was a source of concern. I saw, what I would say, it was an infatuation. I felt like she would do anything he said or suggested. Her eating habits changed, her demeanor changed, reactions changed.”
During the course of her testimony, DeArmond said she didn’t find out about the alleged relationship between her daughter and the coach until a meeting with the school administration was called.
Connally closed the day with his cross examination, asking DeArmond additional information about the alleged victim’s home life and what restrictions – such as curfew and shopping – were placed on the girl.
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Floyd