FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Beth Friedman is now the defendant in a statutory rape trial because she is an "overly giving" teacher who took a chance on student Donald Vaden and got burned, her defense lawyer argued Friday.

Delivering the opening statement he reserved at the start of the trial, lawyer David Bogenschutz told a Broward County Circuit Court jury that he will prove that Friedman's relationship with Vaden when he was 15 years old was not all that different from her relationships with other students.

Friedman had driven other students to school and taken them places, Bogenschutz said. If there was any difference, it was that Vaden and his family just wanted more and more from the teacher.

"Beth Friedman could never say no and each time she put something out there with one hand, these predators grabbed with both hands," Bogenschutz said.

Donald Vaden, now 19, testified for the prosecution that Friedman gave him cash, jewelry and drugs in exchange for sex when he was 15 and 16 years old. Vaden, an admitted drug abuser and former car thief, testified that the relationship began with manual masturbation, advanced to oral sex and graduated to intercourse. His mother and former stepfather, Grisel Vaden and James Vaden, testified that they went to police in June 1999 after Donald Vaden confided that he had been sleeping with Friedman despite his past denials.

He even claimed that Friedman offered him $25,000 to get her pregnant.

Friedman, through her lawyer, denies she ever had sex with Vaden. Bogenschutz, during his opening, said Friedman was the victim of her own kindness and compassion for a student whom she believed she could help.

"I think the evidence is going to show that Beth Friedman has always been ... a caring, nurturing, unusual teacher who has taken it upon herself to break several molds and ... dare to be different about how she deals with children," Bogenschutz said.

The defense plans to call numerous witnesses to vouch for Friedman's character. The defense's first witness, Eva Rudnick, testified that Friedman never used drugs and disapproved of drug use when they lived together in 1997 and 1998. Rudnick, a 21-year-old college psychology student, has known Friedman all her life and considers the teacher like a cousin.

Rudnick

Rudnick said she moved in with Friedman during her senior year in high school. Friedman served as a mentor, giving her advice and help with homework, Rudnick testified. Although Rudnick was 18 and had a boyfriend, Friedman would not allow the young man to stay over, the witness said.

Addressing an issue he had raised during the prosecution's case, Bogenschutz asked Rudnick about a visit she received from Grisel Vaden and Dorry Press, a former neighbor of Friedman's, before the allegations against Friedman became public in 1999. Rudnick said the two prosecution witnesses had tried to get her to testify against Friedman, and alleged that Friedman had been bad-mouthing her.

"They wanted me to say I had seen inappropriate behavior and had seen Donny kissing Beth," Rudnick testified. "I told them I couldn't because that was not the truth."

On cross-examination, prosecutor Stacey Honowitz tried to show that Rudnick had an allegiance to Friedman. Honowitz also pointed out that Friedman never told Rudnick that Donald Vaden was smoking pot, something Friedman supposedly detested.

Honowitz also asked Rudnick why she had not told the police detective who was hounding her to give a statement that two other witnesses were encouraging her to lie.

"I wanted to stay out of it," Rudnick replied.

If convicted, Friedman, 42, faces up to 76 years in prison. The defense is scheduled to call the second of about 10 witnesses when the trial resumes at 12:30 p.m. Monday.