During three hours of cross-examination by Mr. Byrne's defense attorney, the now-17-year-old girl insisted that Mr. Byrne had sex with her three times during the summer of 2003. She couldn't, however, pinpoint the dates or recall details like what either of them was wearing at the time.

The first alleged incident occurred at his Santa Barbara home, the second in a costume room at a school theater and the last inside his Honda SUV at a park -- after Mr. Byrne was already under investigation by police, the girl said.

"I remember things that were significant," responded the teen, who testified as a key prosecution witness in the jury trial of Mr. Byrne, 42, who faces child molestation and unlawful sex charges involving three girls.

She was visibly upset when the defense lawyer accusingly noted discrepancies in her testimony about what clothes Mr. Byrne took off and left on while allegedly having sex with her on the reclined passenger seat of his SUV at Stevens Park.

"I don't remember whether he was wearing clothes," she blurted. "I remember he was climbing over the seat to have sex with me and I was terrified out of my mind."

It wasn't until nearly a year later -- and 11 months after Mr. Byrne was arrested in August 2003 -- that she told authorities about any of those incidents.

Before that, she had repeatedly told police detectives and other investigators that nothing sexually inappropriate had ever happened between her and Mr. Byrne.

At the outset of the investigation, she falsely claimed that he had kissed her and fondled her breast while photographing her, but she recanted that story days later -- and readily admitted that lie during her trial testimony.

She came forward with the new allegations in July 2004, after undergoing therapy that helped her come to grips with what had happened, she testified.

"I realized that what he did to me was wrong," she said. "I stopped blaming myself. I had no power in that situation. . . . He had sex with me when I didn't want to."

He is also charged with having sex with a 17-year-old girl in 2001 and molesting a third girl about six years ago, when she was 11 or 12 and he was a part-time drama teacher at Open Alternative School.

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