Former Waterloo teacher's fate in jury's hands

Jurors began deliberating the fate of former Waterloo teacher Larry Twigg late Thursday, a day after a defense expert told them Twigg may not have had a direct sexual motivation behind his actions.

Twigg, who taught computer science at West High School, is charged with five counts of lascivious acts with a child. He was involved in an incident with a 17-year-old boy in December 2009 and January 2010 that included spanking the boy and pouring chocolate syrup on him.

The jury resumed deliberations at 9 a.m. Friday in Black Hawk County Associate District Court.

Dr. Thomas Gratzer, a Minnesota psychiatrist who specializes in treating sex offenders, told jurors that Twigg's actions both seemed to confirm and contradict standard sex offender behavior.

“The most obvious thing would be that it's sexual, that's how you interpret it,” Gratzer said.

Twigg's attorneys argued he didn't have the mental capacity at the time of the incidents to have specific intentions of enticing the boy into some sort of sexual situation. That may have been caused by a car accident years ago that affected his impulse control and judgement.

Gratzer said he didn't believe the accident caused any problems, calling any trauma “mild.”

Twigg suffered from psychosomatic complaints - illnesses that aren't rooted in a physiological cause - he blamed on the accident. Instead, the problems are caused by him suppressing his emotions.

“That didn't start with the head injury, but it's an example of the process,” Gratzer said.

It could be why Twigg didn't recognize the sexual nature and rationalized it as something else. Twigg told authorities his actions were intended to punish the boy for losing at a game or to work off class assignments.

Gratzer also called the explanation unusual.

“It's bizarre for even someone who has seen thousands of sex offenders,” he said.

Twigg's behavior didn't seem consistent with sex offenders. He showed low overall sexual interest in testing, compared with hypersexuality in offenders. He also an unusual step of crossing several personal boundaries with the boy but didn't take the last final step.

“Usually, a sex offender doesn't stop short of committing a sexual offense,” he said.

Assistant Black Hawk County Attorney Dustin Lies dismissed during closing arguments the idea that  Twigg lacked mental capacity.

“I would submit to you that he was exactly himself that day,” Lies said.

Defense attorney James Metcalf said Twigg only began to understand what was going on when he sought counseling on his own accord after his arrest.

“I don't think anyone did any psychiatric work on this case until Mr. Twigg started it,” Metcalf said.

Twigg was arrested a year ago on the charges and was fired from his teaching job. The charges against Twigg are serious misdemeanors, meaning if convicted he faces up to a year in jail and a fine on each charge.