By Mollee Francisco

 One simple text message seemed to say it all. “Pleas Im I beggin u. Both of our lives wil be ruind.”

The text message was one of several presented as evidence in Carver County Court Thursday of a relationship that went beyond the usual student-teacher relations. However, whether or not it is a crime remains in contention.

Twenty-nine-year-old Julia Lund, an English Language Learners teacher at Chaska High School, is on trial for alleged sexual misconduct with a student.

Attorneys for both the prosecution and defense presented their arguments Thursday morning.

In his opening statement, Mike Wentzell, with the Carver County Attorney’s Office, painted a picture for the jury of a lonely teacher who set her sights on a 17-year-old male student who attended class near her classroom.

Wentzell said that Lund engaged the student in eye contact and smiles, which eventually blossomed into short conversations and then a request for him to call her.

“He was shocked and kind of excited that a teacher would be interested in him,” Wentzell told the jury.

Continuing his statement, Wentzell said that after a series of phone conversations, the two agreed to meet at a park in Eden Prairie, where they had a one-time sexual encounter. Though they agreed they should get together again afterward, the relationship deteriorated when the student’s girlfriend saw a text message from the teacher.

Worried about his girlfriend, a college scholarship, as well as what family and friends would think, the student took his case to a high school dean.

Initially, he told school officials that he was uncomfortable around Lund, but denied any sexual relationship. Later, when pressed, he confessed that there had been sexual activity between the two, Wentzell said.

Defense attorney Robert Sicoli did not deny the attraction between the teacher and the student, but asserted that Lund did not sexually assault the student and was not in a position of power when they did meet in the park.

“Put aside your moral thoughts,” Sicoli asked the jury. “And keep an open mind.”

On the first day of testimony, Wentzell called seven witnesses and introduced 29 pieces of evidence.

The first witness was the alleged victim. The student testified that he began noticing Lund looking at him as he walked to his classroom, near her classroom, at the end of the 2005/06 school year.

“It was a long staring kind of,” he said, estimating that it happened between 20 and 30 times.

The following fall, the student and teacher had their first conversation.

“She told me she was going to miss me,” he said. “I didn’t know why she was going to miss me, but that’s what she said.”

The student testified that she appeared nervous when she told him that.

“I told her not to be nervous,” he said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

He said that she asked him to call her, but testified that the request confused him.

“I asked her why she wanted me to call her,” he said. “She said she was lonely, that her husband was gone a lot, and she needed someone to talk to.”

The student said that he was “weirded out kinda,” but admitted to following her into her classroom to get her number. He said that she masked her activity by asking him, “So, are you interested in joining the after-school program” and then wrote her number on a yellow Post-It.

The student testified that later that night, Oct. 26, he called her. He said that they got to know each other, talking about where they were from and their families, but added that she acknowledged the dangerous ground they were treading on.

“She said she could be fired if anyone found out she was talking to me,” he testified.

Over the next few days, the two discussed meeting outside of school, the student said. Lund suggested Staring Lake Park, but the student thought it was too public.

“I didn’t want anyone to be seen with a teacher in front of everyone,” he testified.

On Oct. 31, they arranged to meet that night at Hidden Ponds Park in Eden Prairie. The student wasn’t familiar with the park, but testified that she told him how to get there.

After waiting for 25-35 minutes for her, the student testified that she arrived and got into the front seat of his mom’s SUV.

“She said she wished I was 18,” he testified. “She said it sucked that I was 17 years old and wished that I was 18, but couldn’t help herself.”

The student then said that he leaned over and started kissing her. Things progressed and eventually they moved to the back seat of the vehicle, he testified, adding that Lund had brought a condom along in her bra.

Their encounter was cut short when Lund’s husband called multiple times. He said she answered the phone and told him she would be “leaving the doctor’s office in about 15 minutes.”

Both parties left shortly thereafter.

“We both said we should meet up again,” the student testified. He said that later they both regretted what they had done.

“I (sent a text message) that this is wrong,” he said. “She texted back that this was the worst mistake she’s ever had.”

Nearly a month later, he received another text message from Lund, the student testified. The student’s girlfriend was present when he received the message and questioned him about who had sent it.

The student said that he lied to his girlfriend, pretending he didn’t know who it was from. The girlfriend then insisted he call the number back. The student testified that he did, and when Lund answered, continued to pretend that he didn’t know who he was talking to. At that point, the student said that his girlfriend grabbed the phone and began questioning Lund.

The student said he couldn’t hear everything Lund was saying, but thought he heard something to the effect of “Ask your boyfriend to tell you what happened.”

The student and his girlfriend got in a fight following the phone call and the student left his girlfriend’s house at her insistence.

According to the student, a series of text messages followed the next day between the student and Lund.

“You almost ruined my life yesterday,” the student texted. “I’m going to my dean about this.”

To which the student testified that Lund texted back, “Pleas Im I beggin u. Both of our lives wil be ruind.”

“How could you be so stupid,” the student texted her. “You were stalking me.”

On Dec. 1, the student made an appointment with Chaska High School Dean Tom Gray.

“She said she was going to break up with me,” the student testified regarding his girlfriend. “It needed to be done. The wrong thing happened.”

In the student’s initial disclosure to Gray and several other school officials, he denied any sexual contact between himself and Lund.

“I was protecting myself, my scholarship that I had,” the student testified.

Gray said that the student told him he was feeling uncomfortable with Lund. Gray didn’t believe that was the whole story, though.

“He seemed troubled, nervous,” he testified. “He said he didn’t want to tell me anymore.”

In subsequent interviews, the student told school officials he had not met with Lund outside of school. But a “bluff” by Jim O’Connell, District 112 director of administrative procedures, got a different story from the student.

“I was at the 99.9 percent there’s more to the story,” said O’Connell.

In an interview with Chaska High School Assistant Principal Jim Swearingen, O’Connell told the student that they knew otherwise.

“He became emotional,” Swearingen testified of the student. “He broke down.” Both O’Connell and Swearingen testified that the student then told them of the sexual encounter at the park.

In cross examination, Sicoli poked at the student’s credibility, focusing on the number of people he initially lied to about not meeting with Lund outside of school.

Sicoli also questioned Lund’s authority over the student.

“She never gave you orders?” he asked the student. “You never had her as a teacher?” To which the student replied “No” to both questions.

Sicoli also asked school officials what responsibility a teacher would have for students outside of school, generating a mix of befuddled responses.

The trial continues Friday morning with the last of the prosecution’s witnesses. Closing statements are scheduled for Monday morning, after which the case is expected to be handed over to the jury.