FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Accusations were flying in a Broward County courtroom Wednesday as a prosecutor and defense lawyer delivered closing arguments in the statutory rape trial of middle school teacher Beth Friedman.

Prosecutor Stacey Honowitz called Friedman obsessed, manipulative and controlling.

Friedman's lawyer, David Bogenschutz, used words like liar, thief and vermin to describe the alleged victim in the case, Donald Vaden, and other prosecution witnesses.

Honowitz fired first, asking the jury of six, four women and two men, to use their common sense when they begin deliberations Friday morning. Circling a lectern several times during her remarks, Honowitz seemed to be making the case that where there's smoke there's fire.

Specifically, Honowitz referred to the testimony of numerous prosecution witnesses that Vaden and Friedman were almost constant companions during an 18-month period when Vaden was a minor and Friedman was in her late 30s. Friedman met Vaden when he was her 14-year-old student and eventually seduced him into a sexual relationship with gifts, cash, drugs and trips, Honowitz charged.

"What could you possibly have in common with a 15-year-old punk? What could you want from him? ... A sexual relationship," Honowitz said, acknowledging that the now 19-year-old was a troubled youth.

Honowitz urged jurors to reject the defense's position that Vaden and others cooked up allegations against Friedman in 1999 because they believed a pot of gold awaited them at the end of the case. No civil lawsuit was ever filed against Friedman or the Broward school system, and to believe that a conspiracy existed jurors would have to believe numerous other prosecution witnesses were part of it, the prosecutor argued.

"The kid was apathetic. The kid was a disciplinary problem, no doubt about it," Honowitz, raising her voice at times, told the jury. "But she found him ... Beth Friedman was in love with him."

Honowitz argued that defense witness Jonathan Tucker, a convicted felon who has used many aliases, had a "bone to pick" with Donald Vaden when Tucker testified that Vaden tried to recruit him to tell lies about a teacher in 1996 or 1997. Tucker didn't meet Vaden until 1999, the year Vaden and Tucker both accused each other of being involved in the theft of a truck, Honowitz stressed.

Anticipating the defense argument to come, Honowitz told the jury that the fact that some prosecution witnesses contradicted each other and themselves during testimony does not automatically introduce reasonable doubt. If jurors can reconcile the conflicts with reasonable explanations, they can still conclude that the prosecution proved guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, Honowitz said.

The case was one of betrayal, Honowitz said. She told jurors that it should not be so hard to believe that a popular, intelligent teacher with a law degree could pick out a troubled youth to have a relationship with.

"Lawyers, judges, teachers, doctors and presidents commit crimes," Honowitz said, referring to testimony that Friedman was a "teacher of the month" at her middle school in 1999 and nominated for the annual distinction in 1998.

In his closing argument, Bogenschutz boiled the case down to the credibility of Donald Vaden. Bogenschutz referred to Vaden's street name of "Mr. Grand Theft" several times during his remarks to underscore the defense contention that Vaden, his mother, and another prosecution witness were part of a conspiracy against Friedman.

"Why are we here? This is really frightening. Really frightening," Bogenschutz said in a low, soft tone.

Quoting from Shakespeare and Mark Twain at times, Bogenschutz ripped into testimony from prosecution witnesses one by one, calling some liars and pointing out that others changed their story from pretrial depositions.

"When you cut away the wheat from the chaffe, you know Donald Vaden is not believable," the defense lawyer said. "If you take Donald Vaden out of the mix, you have a teacher who was seeing a student a lot."

Bogenschutz went on to argue that Friedman is the real victim in the case. He described her as a caring, nurturing teacher who was not afraid to take a chance on Vaden when no one else would. The Vadens turned the tables on the teacher and hoped to exploit her kindness and generosity, he argued.

"The problem with these people is the truth has no meaning ... The difference between the truth and a lie is whatever suits their needs," Bogenschutz said, using examples of contradictory testimony to bolster his position. "Beth Friedman is a nurturing person. She is a giving person ... She was a pigeon, ladies and gentleman. A perfect pigeon."

Friedman, now 42, wiped tears from her eyes as Bogenschutz held up her "teacher of the month" plaque. If convicted of all six charges, she faces up to 76 years in prison.

Bogenschutz asked the jury to conclude that Friedman never had sexual relations with Donald Vaden and to consider the evidence that the Vaden family was enjoying financial benefits that the teacher-student friendship meant to all of them.

"Their priority was to lie and steal ... God forgive me, they are vermin," the lawyer said. "Vermin. She is a person who has no ability to see through that kind of evil ... It is a farce. It did not happen."

Getting in the last word on rebuttal, Honowitz asked the jury not to allow the defense to put the Vaden family on trial just because they come from "the other side of the tracks." The Vadens were not "the Trumps" and Grisel and James Vaden were not "the Cleavers," Honowitz said. Although some testimony was contradictory, Honowitz said, witnesses who testified that they observed a girlfriend-boyfriend relationship between the two had no reason to lie and some did not even like Donald Vaden.

Only one witness, Steven Erb, said he saw Friedman perform oral sex on Vaden. Dorry Press, Friedman's neighbor, said she saw hugging. Erb's father, Steven Burroughs, said he saw Friedman hanging all over Vaden.

"If these people wanted to lie, why not really go crazy?" Honowitz asked. "'I not only saw oral sex, I saw intercourse.' They didn't say that."

When the trial resumes Friday, Judge Stanton Kaplan will instruct jurors on the law. Deliberations should begin at about 10:30 a.m.

The trial is being broadcast by Court TV.