A Bryan High senior was called to testify Tuesday afternoon as prosecutors began presenting their case against Ricky Ray James -- a former ROTC instructor at the school accused of having a long-term sexual relationship with the teen.
James, 50, a retired Air Force veteran with no prior criminal history, was arrested in January -- several months after the teen's mother took her to the Bryan police station following an outcry.
The two began having sex at James' apartment in February 2006 -- when she was a 15-year-old sophomore in his class -- and continued the relationship until November of that year, the girl told jurors Tuesday.
"He was a pretty cool guy," she said of the defendant, who attorneys referred to as Sgt. James. "Everybody liked him.
"I began to like him more and more because I felt he cared about me. ... He was always the one to help me with stuff. He was always basically there for me."
James has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault of a child, second-degree felonies that could carry sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
During her testimony, the teen described the former instructor's apartment, including a shadow box containing his military medals that she said was on his bedroom dresser. By the end of the relationship, she said, the two were secretly meeting there every week or so.
"It was always understood: 'If you don't tell, I won't tell,'" she said, adding that she had never done anything like that before.
Prosecutors Cory Crenshaw and Brian Price described James during their opening statement as a father who left his wife and children in San Antonio to take the Bryan High job months before an illicit relationship began.
"This was not something that was made very public," Crenshaw said, describing the interactions as "not your typical teacher-student relationship."
But James' actions did come to light because of the teen's persistent mother, he said, explaining that her suspicion first was raised when she saw James drop her daughter off at their home in his sport utility vehicle.
"Do not give my daughter a ride ever again," the woman told him then, according to Crenshaw. But the rides persisted, Crenshaw said, until the mother's suspicion was strong enough that she repeatedly confronted her daughter over the course of one weekend last November.
Initially, the teen said Tuesday that she repeatedly denied any relationship to her mother because she was afraid of getting in trouble, she was embarrassed and she didn't want James to get in trouble. But she gave in and told the truth, she said, after her mother approached her in tears.
"My heart went out to her," she said. "She was pleading for me to just tell her, just be honest with her."
Defense attorneys Cameron Reynolds and Craig Greening declined to give an opening statement Tuesday, but they suggested repeatedly while cross-examining the teen that she might have been pressured by her mother to lie.
During the teen's first interview with police she said the two had sex four or five times over the past month, but the story changed to a nine-month relationship during a subsequent interview several days later, they pointed out. She also couldn't initially find James' apartment and gave a vague description of its interior, they said.
But her story changed, she said, because she initially wanted to protect James. And she initially got lost, she said, because investigators took a different route than James did when he took her to his apartment.
The teen was the only witness called to testify before jurors were sent home for the evening.
Prosecutors are expected to continue calling witnesses when the trial resumes at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 361st District Courtroom at the Brazos County Courthouse.
• Craig Kapitan's e-mail address is craig.kapitan@theeagle.com.
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