Jurors in Farr case see school

Jurors in the David Farr trial took a trip to Children's House Montessori School in Whitefish Tuesday afternoon to see the actual places where the alleged incidents of sexual abuse occurred.

Defense attorneys Jack and Phyllis Quatman motioned to allow jurors the trip at the beginning of the trial, but District Court Judge Stewert Stadler only decided late Monday afternoon that witness testimony merited the excursion.

The visit to the school was not entered into the record and no testimony was given there.

Judge Stadler, both defense attorneys, prosecutors Dan Guzynski and Lori Adams, and Farr accompanied the jurors.

A former administrator of Children's House Montessori School, Farr, 37, is accused of molesting five boys between the ages of 2 and 4 in the nap room and offices there. He was the school's administrator from June 2004 to October 2005.

Before the trip to Whitefish, prosecutors called the mother of the last alleged victim to the stand. She testified that her son told her of at least five times Farr molested him.

This alleged victim's mother also took notes, sometimes writing down her son's disclosures immediately after they were made, she told jurors.

She testified her son told her that "Dave was mean to him" and that what allegedly happened to him "hurt real bad."

On cross examination, the mother sparred with defense attorneys, saying it was hard for her to imagine anyone defending somebody like Farr.

Defense attorneys questioned the alleged victim's mother about the accuracy of her notes and the local rumor mill's effect on her belief in the accusations.

The mothers of the alleged victims in this case testified in their sons' places under a Montana Supreme Court ruling that allows hearsay evidence in cases involving very young children.

Prosecutors also called Paulina McCullough, a substitute aid at the school, who testified that she saw children in Farr's office "all the time." She also told jurors that Farr, in her opinion, spent too much time with the children and not enough on his administrative duties.

Farr, 37, is charged with five counts of felony sexual assault. If convicted of all five counts, he could be sentenced to life or up to 500 years in prison.

Farr is expected to testify in his own defense this afternoon or Thursday.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com