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TOM ZUCCOThe defense pelted the girl with questions and plans to introduce the Disney costume as evidence today.
ORLANDO - The 13-year-old girl leaned forward in the witness stand, looked straight ahead and spoke directly into the microphone.
She had withstood pointed questions almost from the moment that defense attorney Jeffrey Kaufman Jr. began his cross-examination 20 minutes earlier.
Now he wanted to know why, if she said she had been touched on her breast by the man wearing the Tigger suit, a photo of her standing beside the Disney character taken seconds afterward showed her smiling.
"It's a picture," she said in a calm, clear voice. "What was I supposed to do? People can be smiling and not be happy."
So began the trial of Michael C. Chartrand, the man in the Tigger suit.
Stashed out of sight in a cardboard box, next to the judge's bench, was the costume itself. Kaufman, who works part-time as a Disney character, hopes to have jurors handle the costume so they can see how difficult it would be to grope someone while wearing the bulky outfit.
It is but one bizarre element in a case that cuts to the core of a carefully sculpted reputation that Disney has spent decades and millions of dollar to build - that of a safe, family-oriented theme park.
Chartrand, 36, faces one count of lewd and lascivious molestation alleging that he fondled the Hillsborough County girl Feb. 21 while he was dressed as the Tigger character at Walt Disney World's Toon Town.
The girl, whose name is being withheld due to the nature of the charges, was at the theme park with her mother, stepfather, brother and stepsister. After a day of going on rides, they had stopped at the Toon Town area to have their pictures taken with several Disney characters.
And it was those pictures that became a focal point on Monday.
Hours before the trial began, Chartrand rejected a plea deal from prosecutors, who offered a misdemeanor battery charge and one year of probation.
"He's willing to risk five years in prison," Kaufman said. "He simply didn't do it. The lead investigator lied, and more than anyone, I should know what you can and can't do in that suit."
Besides being an attorney, Kaufman has worked part-time for the past seven years as a Disney character. One of the characters he has played is Tigger.
Pacing in front of the jury of four men and two women during opening arguments, assistant state attorney Will Jay acknowledged that an investigator made mistakes, that the girl's family waited a week before contacting authorities and that the girl's family contacted a Tampa attorney about filing a civil suit against Disney.
"But this is about what a 32-year-old man did to a 13-year-old girl," Jay told the jury.
Jay said Chartrand has "an appetite" for photos taken of himself in the Tigger costume, and for girls between the ages of 12 and 20.
"This defendant knew where his paws were," he said of Chartrand, who has been suspended without pay.
Then it was Kaufman's turn.
He said that the teen changed some details of her story and that prominent law firms turned down chances to represent her in a civil suit.
But he said it would be proved that the Tigger costume was too bulky for the defendant to commit a lewd and lascivious act.
Kaufman said the Tigger suit will be introduced as evidence today and be made available for the jurors to inspect, something Disney officials have said they are not happy with.
But the star Monday was the teen.
She wore a simple black dress and white sandals. She acknowledged that she might not remember how many attorneys she had met with, or whether they were from the state attorney's office or a private practice, but she knew she had been violated.
"He touched me," she said. "I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to say."
After the trial recessed for the day, Jay wouldn't say if she had held up well.
"She dealt with it," he said.