Molestation trial goes to jury

Capping a morning-long closing argument, prosecutor Ivan Nightengale told jurors Michael Kazarian, 51, is a "sick individual” who "likes to molest little girls” and should be found guilty.

"Convict this man ... do not let this happen in your community,” Nightengale said.

But defense attorney Steve Chase said Kazarian is not the one lying about what happened — or, rather, did not happen — when his accuser and her mother lived in his San Mateo home.

The now-18 year old woman accused Kazarian out of anger toward an absentee mother, Chase told jurors.

"She wanted to hurt her mother about the one man who was good to [her],” Chase said.

She never intended the accusation to go any further but once her father contacted police had to continue the charade all the way through the trial, he said.

Kazarian is charged with 17 counts of lewd and lascivious activity with a minor under age 14 and the special allegation of continuous sexual activity. If convicted, he faces up to three decades in prison and registration as a sex offender.

Nightengale walked the jury through the charges but conceded the incidents cannot be pinpointed to specific dates within a three-year range.

"There’s no neat beginning, middle, end because this happened too many times,” Nightengale said.

Kazarian took the stand at the end of last week to deny his accuser’s allegations of fondling, inappropriate touching and spanking. Kazarian said he never did anything sexual with the girl but that she once placed her hand on his penis and another time called her to the bed and tried to shove his hand toward her genitals.

His testimony came a week after the alleged victim told jurors she was molested between the ages of 8 and 10 when she and her mother lived in Kazarian’s San Mateo home.

In between the two, attorneys for both sides called a collection of family members, character witnesses and a sexual abuse expert to tell jurors their individual experiences with Kazarian and the accuser, and if allegations lodged so long after the fact should be believed.

The Daily Journal is not naming the alleged victim to protect her identity.

Phone calls

Aside from their individual testimony, a key component of the trial was a pair of phone calls between Kazarian and his accuser which were taped by police. In them, the girl told Kazarian she was having trouble with the past and pushed him for an apology. He told the girl she was wrong and brought up the troubled relationship with her mother, which he said included embezzlement and identity theft.

During his testimony, Kazarian said the failed relationship might be one reason for the daughter’s accusations, but also theorized it could be the abrupt way she moved out without a proper goodbye.

Accusations

The girl claimed a constant stream of molestation, starting shortly after her arrival in 1999 until she and her mother moved out in 2002.

During two days on the stand, the girl said Kazarian climbed into her bed at night as often as he could and also touched her inappropriately at his office and in a recliner chair while watching television.

Like a ritual, Kazarian would lift up her nightgown, touch her pubic area and chest, and digitally penetrate her, Nightengale said.

The girl would "clench her fist, pretend to be asleep and wait for it to be over,” Nightengale said.

But Chase said the allegations were nothing more than a tale and told jurors to consider that during the taped phone calls with Kazarian, the police interviews and on the stand, the woman never showed emotion, never cried and didn’t appear damaged by abuse.

Nightengale similarly questioned why Kazarian, if innocent, never expressed outrage in the phone calls and stayed on the phone for so long.

Chase also questioned why the woman’s mother was never called as a witness or even appeared in the courtroom to support her daughter.

The false case against Kazarian was compounded, he said, by the police.

"Do you think they wanted the truth or a confession?” he asked.

Chase said the woman hadn’t told anyone about the molestation because there was nothing to tell.

The accuser said Kazarian threatened to hurt her parents if she told them about the molestation so she kept it to herself until February 2009 when she disclosed it to her mother.

Nightengale, citing a child sexual abuse expert who testified, told jurors to recall her opinion that child victims often don’t tell for long periods of time — if at all — and that the disclosures are typically fragmented. Despite some inconsistencies, the key details of the girl’s story remain, Nightengale said.

Character witnesses

Jurors should also discount defense character witnesses who spoke of Kazarian’s integrity and that they never saw inappropriate behavior, Nightengale said.

Tiger Woods, Mark Sanford, Larry Craig — Nightengale ticked off a list of prominent individuals he said illustrates that being held in high esteem doesn’t mean being capable of quite different behavior in private. Chase countered with his own list of people who he said proved that words are powerful, even when they are destructive, and told the jury they cannot find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

"The evidence in this case is nowhere near enough to find Mr. Kazarian guilty,” he said. "The prosecution has failed.”

Kazarian remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102.