The trial of a San Jose police officer accused of soliciting nude photos from a Scotts Valley High girl he mentored and coached began Friday, more than 2 1/2 years after the allegations surfaced.
Kenneth Williams Sr., 50, exploited and victimized the girl, who was 15 and 16 at the time, prosecutor Jeff Rosell told jurors during his opening statements.
"He convinced her to take naked photographs and send them to him," Rosell said. "(He) was entrusted to take care of her and help her but instead he betrayed her and he had her betray her own dignity."
He is charged with four felony counts of soliciting lewd matter from a minor and two misdemeanors: possessing the lewd matter and destroying evidence.
Williams met the victim when he helped his wife, Yolanda, coach the Scotts Valley High girls' basketball team. The girl, who was on the team, was having trouble at home and her parents asked Williams to counsel her. They admired him because of his strong Christian beliefs and because the girl's father is also in law enforcement, Rosell said.
Williams and the girl talked a lot, texted each other thousands of messages, went to lunch and sometimes spent time alone without her parents knowing, Rosell said.
Defense attorney Paul Meltzer said helping youth was what Williams, a police officer for 27 years, devoted his life to and his interactions with the girl were not unlike what he'd done for thousands of other children - talking to them, taking them
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on trips, making sure they had food and clothing - and had never been accused of inappropriate conduct until the girl's allegations came to light in December 2005.
"We've all heard the statement 'Let no good deed go unpunished,' " Meltzer said. "Well I think that's really what this case is all about."
Williams and the girl had words about her sneaking out and drinking with members of the football team - an interaction that Rosell described as inappropriate and that Meltzer said fell within the bounds of mentoring - the girl's parents began to suspect Williams' relationship with their daughter had crossed a line. In mid-December they contacted Scotts Valley High administrators, then Scotts Valley police, Rosell said.
That's when the girl revealed to Scotts Valley police detective Mark Lopez that Williams had asked for inappropriate photos of her and, when shots taken on her cell phone camera were too fuzzy, he bought her a digital camera and several memory cards so she could pass the photos to him, Rosell told jurors.
The photos went from an "innocuous" shot of the girl's tan lines to semi-nude and nude photos - Williams allegedly told the girl he intended to use them as models for sketching - to explicit images, according to Rosell. He said nude photos of the girl were mixed with nude photos of Williams' wife, shots of the basketball team and commercial pornography in files on Williams' computers.
"Why do good people do bad things? Sex. Sex," Rosell said.
However, Meltzer pointed out that there was never an allegation that Williams had any sexual contact with the girl, despite the amount of time they spent together.
"This good man didn't do any bad thing," Meltzer told jurors. "If this was all done by Ken Williams for sex, there's no evidence it ever happened."
The defense attorney said Williams is "a very spiritual, deeply religious man," and listed Williams' many awards and accomplishments, including a proclamation from the mayor of San Jose commending his work with kids. Meltzer said Williams, who has three children and has been married for 30 years, was active in his church, the president of the Black Peace Officers Association and established the Operation Jump Start, which gives at-risk kids tutoring, counseling and scholarships to help them get to college.
"He gets close to kids, that's what he does," Meltzer said.
The case largely hangs on the testimony of the victim, who is now 19. Meltzer told jurors that she is the only person who has seen the text message that reportedly requested nude photos.
Several computer forensic specialists also will provide key information about how the photos, many of which were deleted before police recovered Williams' PDA, iPod, iMac and Toshiba laptop. Meltzer said that many people had access to Williams' electronics, including the girl and her basketball team, and that there's no evidence Williams uploaded or ever viewed the photos that were recovered.
But Rosell said Williams' efforts to delete the photos - he allegedly purchased file-destroying software for the iMac and physically broke the hard drive of the laptop - point to his guilt.
Both the victim and Williams are expected to testify during the trial, which will last two to three weeks. He could be sentenced to state prison and would have to register as a sex offender.
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