She 'sent her for tennis lessons, not adult photo shoots'; jury gets Colts Neck coach case

FREEHOLD - The state's case against Colts Neck youth tennis instructor Terry Kuo is filled with holes, from his former student's cloudy recollection of her allegations of sexual assault to the state's failure to find the phones on which pornographic pictures of the girl were taken, a defense attorney told a Monmouth County jury Thursday.

"The state's evidence does have holes,'' defense attorney Alan Zegas told the jury in his summation at the trial of 32-year-old Kuo. "I submit to you, the state did not fill in those holes during the trial.''

Ryan Lavender, assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, countered that the state has thousands of text messages between Kuo and his former student as well as photographs of her that were found on Kuo's computers, which support what the alleged victim testified about.

Although the state streamlined its presentation of the items, they are all part of the evidence in the case, he said.

"They create a circle of evidence that is unbreakable,'' Lavender told the jury in his summation.

Kuo has been on trial since last week before Superior Court Judge Jill Grace O'Malley, accused of carrying on a sexual relationship with a tennis student in 2016 and 2017, when she was 12 and 13 and too young to legally consent to it. He also is accused of taking pornographic photos of the child.

Kuo faces charges of kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, 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 conspiracy to tamper with evidence.

Lavender reminded the jury of the testimony of the accuser, now 18, who said Kuo touched her on at least 10 occasions, with four being acts of penetration and another in which he tried to penetrate her with his penis.

Previously: 'How to practice child love' manual found on Colts Neck youth tennis coach's computer: cop

The accuser "had very little recollection of specific incidents when misconduct was alleged,'' Zegas told the jury. "Her not having a recollection signals a gap in the state's case.''

The defense attorney told the jury to take into account the accuser's demeanor on the witness stand.

"She is not a witness who broke down crying or was emotional,'' Zegas said.

He argued that shows Kuo's claim that he didn't do anything wrong is accurate.

Zegas referred to photographs of Kuo and the girl in which both are smiling. Kuo testified that some of those photographs were taken by the girl's mother, Zegas said.

Lavender, however, put just a few of the numerous pornographic photos of the girl that were shown during the trial into a power-point presentation shown on a large television screen during his summation.

He noted there was another person's hand in one of them, and he pointed out a scar on that hand. He said that scar corresponds with one in a photograph of Kuo's hand that was taken just last week.

Kuo, during his testimony, tried to cast suspicion for the pornographic photographs onto others he said had access to his electronic devices, Lavender said.

"Those people don't have that exact same scar,'' the assistant prosecutor asserted.

Zegas noted testimony from detectives indicating the pornographic photos were taken with an iPhone 7, but the defense attorney said investigators never identified the exact phone that took the photos, and he said no contraband was found on Kuo's iPhones.

'They were up to no good': Colts Neck tennis coach shifts blame for porn photos onto kids

"He changes phones like he changes his underwear,'' Lavender said of Kuo. "It's no surprise no photos were found on his phones.''

However, images of the accuser were found on an iPad taken from Kuo's home, he said. Numerous pornographic photos of the girl were found on a computer Kuo had his father remove from a hidden safe in his home three days after his arrest, Lavender said. The computer was later found at Kuo's sister's apartment in Jersey City, he said.

After it was located in Jersey City, the laptop also was found to contain a document entitled, "How to Practice Child Love,'' which claimed to be a guide that would teach readers how to have "fun sex with children,'' Lavender said.

The guide had a chapter entitled "The advantage of finding sad and lonely children,'' the assistant prosecutor said.

He noted at the time the allege abuse occurred, the accuser's father was in prison, her mother was working full-time in New York City, and her brother was in college and also working full-time.

More: Colts Neck tennis coach rewarded girl with gifts for touching her, alleged victim says

"This is what makes her a sad and lonely child,'' Lavender said, adding that Kuo groomed the girl and made her dependent on him by giving her money, gifts and food.

"I submit to you that there is no evidence whatsoever that Mr. Kuo had anyone sexually assaulted, kidnapped,'' Zegas said. "There is no evidence whatsoever that Mr. Kuo took this young woman anywhere that she did not have a desire to go to.''

Lavender reminded the jury of the accuser's testimony that instead of driving her home one night, Kuo passed by her house and took her to the Marlboro Swim Club, where he sexually assaulted and took pornographic photos of her.

Kidnapping, under the law, doesn't necessarily mean a person was snatched off the street, the assistant prosecutor told the jury. Under the law, kidnapping can occur when a minor is confined without parental consent for the purposes of committing a crime, Lavender said.

"Her mother sent her for tennis lessons, not for adult photo shoots and to be sexually assaulted,'' Lavender told the jury.

The jury began its deliberations about 4 p.m. Thursday.

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: Jury deciding child sex case against Colts Neck tennis coach