Colts Neck youth tennis pro springs surprise defense at retrial on child sex charges

FREEHOLD - A Colts Neck youth tennis instructor, being retried on child sexual assault charges,  took the witness stand Thursday for the second time in as many months and, for the first time ever, claimed to have an alibi for the night he is accused of molesting and taking pornographic photographs of an underage student.

Both assistant prosecutors trying the case against Terry Kuo jumped to their feet and simultaneously yelled, "objection,'' after Kuo sprung the surprise testimony on them.

Kuo, 32, testified that on the night in question, he sent his accuser a text message he claims shows he was in Brooklyn, when she said he molested her at the Marlboro Swim Club one night in 2017.

His attorney, Joshua Nahum asked him about that text message, which was a photo Kuo sent to the girl.

Kuo answered, "This is basically where I am with my alibi that night to show I wasn't there."

The response elicited immediate objections from Kristen Anastos and Ryan Lavender, assistant Monmouth County prosecutors.

Superior Court Judge Jill Grace O'Malley promptly sent the jurors out of the courtroom to consider arguments from the attorneys about Kuo's surprise testimony.

She noted it is the first time in almost six years that Kuo claimed to be in Brooklyn at the same time he is accused of molesting the girl at the Marlboro Swim Club.

Lavender said Kuo failed to give the state notice of an alibi defense as required by law.

"At this point, Mr. Kuo has just about stepped over the line,'' Lavender said.

And, Anastos said there was nothing in the photo or text message sent to the girl to suggest Kuo was in Brooklyn when he sent it.

After examining the photo, the judge described it as someone with a stack of cash inside a car.

"There's nothing about this photo that suggests Brooklyn,'' O'Malley said.

Kuo did not offer an alibi defense when he stood trial over the summer on the same charges. That trial ended in a mistrial on Aug. 4, after that jury deliberated for more than a week, but could not reach an unanimous verdict.

Kuo is charged with kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, causing or permitting a child to engage in pornography, manufacturing child pornography, possessing child pornography, obscenity, endangering the welfare of a child and conspiring to tamper with evidence.

After hearing objections to Kuo's testimony, O'Malley allowed it to go forward, but forbade him from mentioning an alibi. She instructed he could only testify about the timing of the text message he sent to the girl.

"There will be no use of the word 'alibi,'' O'Malley ordered.

"Can we say 'out of state'?'' Kuo asked.

"No,'' O'Malley responded.

"But it was out of state,'' Kuo insisted.

When the jury returned to the courtroom, O'Malley instructed the panel not to disregard Kuo's use of the term 'alibi.'

Then, Naham asked Kuo if he was with his accuser on the night in question or if he took inappropriate photos of her.

"Absolutely not,'' Kuo said. "I'm going to prove it to everybody.''

He went on to scrutinize the accuser's testimony, comparing the time frame she said the molestation and pornographic photo shoot took place to the time stamps on the photos.

The photos were time stamped around 8:30 p.m., but the accuser claimed Kuo picked her up around 8 or 9 p.m. and took her to dinner before taking her to the swim club where she said the allege offenses occurred, Kuo said. She testified they were at dinner for an hour, he said.

Kuo called his accuser's testimony "completely non-credible and a flat-out lie.''

There were several sets of pornographic photographs of the accuser taken on different dates, found on Kuo's electronic devices. Kuo, questioned by his attorney, denied any knowledge of them.

Nahum has argued that many people had unfettered access to electronic devices at Kuo's tennis pro shop.

The accuser testified earlier this week that Kuo gave her expensive gifts, including a Louis Vuitton handbag and iPhones, in exchange for letting him touch her.

Kuo acknowledged giving the girl gifts, but said she was always asking him for things, and that her mother initiated "the gifting culture'' by giving him an expensive Louis Vuitton scarf.

Of the Louis Vuitton bag he gave to the girl, Kuo said, 'Yea, yea, it was only a couple hundred (dollars).''

At the beginning of his testimony Thursday morning, Kuo talked at length about how he set up a tennis business to support himself while struggling financially as a student at Rutgers University.

His testimony sparked frequent objections from the prosecution for being speculative or non-responsive to the questions asked.

Some of those objections were launched when Kuo testified that he was the favorite tennis coach of the kids at one of the clubs where he taught.

He went on to say that he coached more than 200 children "without any complaints of no kidnapping, no rape, nothing,'' launching another objection.

With that, O'Malley instructed the witness to "just answer the question that's asked.''

At one point, Nahum asked Kuo if he was dating anyone in 2017, close in time to when the allegations against him were said to have occurred.

"Yes, I was,'' Kuo responded.

Nahum showed his client a photograph and asked him about it.

"That is me in Times Square and that's me with my girlfriend,'' Kuo replied. "That's Olga. She's a little older than me.''

He added that he was 24 or 25 when the photo was taken.

O'Malley interrupted him and again instructed him to just answer the question that was asked of him.

"That's fine,''  he said, adamantly. "I just want to put on the record that I'm not a pedophile.''

Kuo's testimony is expected to continue today.

Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Colts Neck youth tennis pro springs surprise at his child sex retrial