Commeret has his turn to tell side in court

LYNN – Thomas Commeret, the 56-year-old estranged head of the Marblehead Community Charter Public School, denied assaulting a 15-year-old girl when he testified in his own defense Wednesday.Commeret took the stand for 80 minutes as the final witness presented by his lawyer, Boston Attorney Jay Carney. A jury of four women and three men will go to court this morning ready to hear closing arguments in the case and begin their deliberations.The 32-year educator, the founding head of the Marblehead Charter School, began his testimony with a long list of degrees and past jobs and told the jury how he built the charter school from 195 students in 1995 to 230 in 1996, with a waiting list of 100.A year ago, however, as Commeret’s contract came up for renewal a petition opposing renewal was signed by 100 parents, among them the parents of the 15-year-old girl Commeret is accused of assaulting and threatening – and people were withdrawing children from the school.Under intense questioning from his lawyer Commeret said he did not assault Bronte Price in early April or a second time two-to-three weeks later, or ever.As for former teacher’s aide Sandy Marcus, who testified Tuesday about a mini-bar in his office, Commeret said he never put alcohol in the globe she described, that it was a teaching tool that contained a white top hat, a can of Pepsi and some vocabulary cards. He smiled briefly, then explained, “That (alcohol in his office) would be inappropriate. It’s so ludicrous.”Asked about Sgt. Marion Keating’s testimony that he glared at her after she told him he was the suspect in Price’s assault, Commeret said, “I was in shock. It was an intense situation? I didn’t intend to glare. We were going through a rough patch, people were dissatisfied. Every child we lose, we lose $10,000.” He said that Price had been home for the past two days and the words Keating recalled, “Let the girl stay home,” were intended to mean “Can she stay home so I can go to work?”Assistant District Attorney Kim Faitella pointed out that the petition the Prices signed thanked Commeret for his hard work and expressed a need for new leadership.”This isn’t an angry mob, is it?” Faitella said and Commeret agreed.Pressed on the mini-bar Commeret said he “didn’t recall” any jokes about alcoholic beverages in the globe and asked if his conversation with Keating was in the same polite manner as his testimony he paused before saying, “Pretty much.””It was intense,” he explained. “I was accused – falsely accused – of something I didn’t do.” He raised his right hand and quickly lowered it again when Faitella pointed out that the quarter-sized bruises witnesses observed on Price’s arms were about the same size as his fingertips.Earlier in the morning the other three defense witnesses, Olivia Tosi, Kaitlin Barry and Abigail Croughwell, testified that they were at the charter school with Price and were her friends – at least until last spring – and she told them at first that a boy named Eli assaulted her, something Price admitted in her testimony Tuesday. Tosi said Price told her that Commeret assaulted her twice, two-three weeks apart.Carney lost his first battle of the day, however, when Judge Ellen Flatley refused to let him present testimony from the three girls on Price’s reputation for truthfulness. Faitella pointed out that Tosi told DSS that Price “wouldn’t lie about big things,” and pointed out that Price had a falling out when she said a former friend was drinking and the friend was subsequently hospitalized for alcohol poisoning.