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News Photo by Julie RiddleForensic interviewer Kellie Sefernick, left, answers questions from Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski while observed by Judge Roy Hayes in Alpenas 26th Circuit Court on Tuesday.

ALPENA Alleged eyewitness accounts and excused jurors marked the fifth day of testimony in the trial of former Alpena Public Schools teacher Heather Winfield on Tuesday.

Judge Roy Hayes limited the testimony of several expert witnesses and allowed one witness to plead the fifth as the prosecution sought to prove that Winfield sexually assaulted a one-time student when he was between 11 and 13 years old.

Winfield denies the charges. The News does not identify alleged survivors of sexual assault.

During Tuesdays testimony in Alpenas 26th Circuit Court, a string of witnesses said they observed sexually suggestive interactions between Winfield and the student.

A relative of the now-17-year-old alleged victim said the accuser in 2017 showed him a social media message including a photo of female genitalia. The message came from Winfields social media account, the witness said.

News Photo by Julie RiddleReflected in a courtroom mirror, attorneys debate proposed testimony by forensic interviewer Kellie Sefernick, seated in the witness stand, in Alpenas 26th Circuit Court on Tuesday.

A friend of the alleged victim said he overheard Winfield promising to perform oral sex on the accuser while the two boys were playing the video game Fortnite in 2016. Attempting to cast doubt on the testimony, defense attorney Matt Wojda noted that Fortnite was not released to the public until 2017, to which the friend replied that he had been playing a pre-release version.

Another friend said he caught Winfield and the alleged victim sitting on a bed, a pile of clothes at the foot of the bed. When the friend entered, Winfield hid her body with a sheet and the alleged victim, partially clothed, laughed, according to the witness.

Asked why, like others on the stand, he didnt tell police what he witnessed, the friend described a bro code that forbade him from revealing his friends secrets to adults.

Hayes asked jurors to leave so attorneys could discuss unrelated illegal activity by the friend. Hayes advised the friend of his right to invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination, which the friend did, declining to answer a question from the defense.

Hayes also excused the jury so attorneys could wrangle over proposed testimony from two experts.

Siding with the defense, Hayes forbade witness Kellie Sefernick from revealing what the alleged victim told her when she interviewed him at Alpenas Child Advocacy Center after he first claimed Winfield assaulted him.

Sefernicks testimony would help rebuild the youths credibility, attacked at length by the defense on Monday, Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski said.

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The defense said Muszynski could have done that herself when the alleged victim was still on the stand, arguing that statements by an expert would have too much weight with the jury.

The Michigan Court of Appeals agrees, said Hayes, citing recent jury decisions overturned by the higher court because expert witnesses influenced jurors unfairly.

Similar concerns caused Hayes to also limit the testimony of Dr. Maureen Mead, who examined the alleged victim in 2018 for physical signs of sexual assault.

Sexually assaulted children rarely show such signs, Mead testified.

The jury could not hear her diagnosis that the alleged victim had sustained sexual abuse by an adult authority figure, despite no physical indications, Hayes said.

Hayes issued a stern warning that the attorneys and witnesses not cross the lines drawn by Michigans higher courts.

Ill declare a mistrial if this goes haywire, Hayes said. We start over. Everyone understand that?

Tuesdays witnesses also included a teacher who worked with Winfield at Thunder Bay Junior High School, where Winfield first developed a close relationship with her accuser while he was a student in her 6th Grade classroom.

The teacher related once finding Winfield locked in a classroom with the student. She said Winfield neglected her work to talk to the boy via social media, received a sexually suggestive message from him, and repeatedly watched video clips of the boy dancing.

The trial, expected to last at least through Friday, continues today.

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