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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 11:40 a.m., Thursday, May 25, 2006

Jury resumes deliberations in dance teacher's trial

Advertiser Staff

A Circuit Court jury resumed deliberations this morning on sex assault charges against former dance instructor Daniel Jones.

But there was no court session to explain why the jurors were individually questioned in a closed session in Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall's chambers yesterday afternoon.

The jury began deliberations the afternoon of May 17 following a three-week trial on 18 first-degree and third-degree sex assault charges against the 21-year-old man accused of molesting five dance students in 2004 and 2005.

During the trial, the five girls testified that Jones molested them, but Jones' defense is that prosecution failed to prove its case and each of the girls has "serious credibility problems."

The jury has now been in deliberations for more than five days.