Youth center defendent denies sexual conduct
Former Strickland Youth Center detention officer
Adric Lashaun Bush -- accused by two young, one-time residents of the center of sodomizing them in the bedroom of his home -- told a jury Tuesday that he was innocent and several witnesses were liars.
Bush, 27, began his lengthy testimony by weeping over his predicament.
Bush's testimony followed a string of character witnesses Tuesday who variously described him as "awesome" and "a very fine fellow," a hard-working "people person" who even as a teenager loved working with youngsters.
Another, shorter string of former residents and other youths testified that while he spent time, money and energy on them, he never sho
wed the side described by two accusers,
who were 12 and 14 when, they said,
Bush lured them into various degrees of sodomy.
Bush is on trial this week in the case of the 14-year-old's accusations, but both boys swore Monday that he took them to his San Juan Drive home in Mobile in late 2003 and attacked them sexually.
Official charges involving the older boy include enticing a child for immoral purposes, furnishing alcohol to a minor and first-degree sodomy. If convicted, Bush faces a five-year maximum on the first two and 10 years to life for sodomy.
The 12-year-old testified that one sexual encounter occurred in a moving car as Bush sat the boy on his lap behind the wheel. As the child steered, according to his testimony, Bush worked the gas and brake pedals while fondling the boy through his clothes.
The younger boy, now 13, was not in court Tuesday. The older one, now 16, sat with his mother in the courtroom gallery. Several of Bush's character witness
es were not so kind to his accuser, describing him as a constant troublemaker who excelled at manipul
ation.
As Bush answered questions from his Mobile attorney, Tim Fleming, the teenager often shook his head in disagreement at what the defendant was saying and ducked his head when Bush broke down in tears as he talked about his friends and family.
During cross-examination by prosecutors, Bush admitted taking the teen to his home on a December night in 2003, agreed that it was not only wrong but against the youth center's rules, but claimed the boy was desperate, had just run away from home. Bush said he took the youngster to his house to counsel him.
Why then, Assistant District Attorney Edmond Naman asked him, did Bush simply start playing video games when he got home, never made a personal effort to let the boy's mother know where he was and allowed the boy to go to his bedroom to watch television, as he had earlier claimed during direct examination by his lawyer?
What happened to the counseling, Naman asked Bush.
Monday, the accuser told jurors he was downstairs
playing video games when Bush called him to his bedroom, showed him a gun, made implied threats with it, then sexually assaulted him.
Bush's cross-examination by the prosecution is set to resume today in Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas' courtroom.
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Wake up America and smell the nigger.
T.N.B.