Under questioning by his defense lawyer, Mr. Byrne explained that some of the photos were for what he called a fairy project, a collection of photographs of semi-naked or nude adolescents. Their breasts and genitals were to be covered by computer-generated celestial wings, he said.

But when questioned by the prosecutor, Mr. Byrne could provide no reason why he only photographed the waiflike girls naked for the project, which was never completed.

Making frequent eye contact with jurors, Mr. Byrne, 42, adamantly denied allegations that he had sex with a 15-year-old girl three times, a 17-year-old girl once or that he molested a third girl about six years ago when she was 11 or 12.

Mr. Byrne's testimony before Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa came in the second week of trial and the first day of the defense case. The jury of seven men and five women is expected to begin deliberations by the end of the week. Mr. Byrne faces eight felony counts that carry a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison if he's convicted.

He told his lawyer that there were some instances he could have handled differently, especially with the 15-year-old, to avoid the "trouble" he's in now.

The investigation of that incident, which allegedly occurred with the 15-year-old in the costume room of Santa Barbara High School during the summer of 2003, resulted in the discovery of the two other alleged victims.

In response to defense questions, Mr. Byrne explained that he and the girl spontaneously decided to capture images of her on his cell phone to create a montage that would illustrate how various costumes could affect someone's personality.

But when prosecutor Ron Zonen asked why she only appears naked in the montage -- not in costume -- Mr. Byrne responded that the sequence was out of order and had not yet been edited.

Through rapid-fire questions, Mr. Zonen revealed that Mr. Byrne had photographed about half a dozen girls in various states of undress without written permission from their parents.

Mr. Zonen grilled the defendant about why a chaperon was never present during the photo shoots and why he allegedly told the girls he'd help get them jobs as models in Los Angeles.

When Mr. Zonen asked why he let two girls into his bed, Mr. Byrne responded that they were tired and just crawled in and fell asleep. He denied any sexual contact.

However, jurors raised their eyebrows when Mr. Zonen read out loud a descriptive erotic passage Mr. Byrne had written in a journal seized by law enforcement officers.

But Mr. Byrne said the incident occurred 25 years ago in college and he couldn't remember the names of those involved, so he substituted them. Mr. Byrne then insisted the passage differed with the earlier testimony and maintained the erotic writing was an exercise designed to develop his creativity.

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