Jury in Kinney Trial to Hear Closing Arguments Tuesday

Musician Mark Kinney will not take the stand in his trial on molestation and pornography charges. The prosecution and defense will wrap up their cases Tuesday and the jury is expected to begin deliberations at the El Cajon courthouse.

The piano, guitar and drum teacher is alleged to have performed lewd and lascivious acts with three girls under age 14. He also stands accused of producing obscene material with them and possessing child pornography on his computer. If found guilty on all charges, he faces a possible prison term of 47 years to life.

Kinney has performed and taught music in private lessons all over San Diego county, including in Ramona, Julian and Wynola. He also taught in a rented studio at a music store in Ramona.

The allegations came to light in September 2009, when parents made a report to the Sheriff's Department after a phone call from another adult. Kinney's rented room in Wynola was searched and his laptop was seized and analyzed by the Regional Forensic Computer Lab. The lab is staffed by various San Diego County law enforcement agencies, including the San Diego Police Department.

Detective Angela Rozsa works at the lab under assignment by the department. She testified Monday about what was found on Kinney's laptop and also about evidence processing and computer analysis procedures designed to reduce the possibility of tampering with evidence or effects on the original computer content.

Under questioning from the prosecution, Rozsa confirmed code words in file names and paths for about 150 thumbnail images found on Kinney's computer. She explained how these terms are typically found with images of child pornography. One acronym in the paths of Kinney's files, for example, stands for Pre-Teen Hard Core, she testified.

Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Davis testified last week that the images on Kinney's laptop contained scenes of children mostly under 10 years old performing sex acts with other children and adults, including intercourse.

Under questioning from the defense, Rozsa confirmed that she had identified 56,000 graphic files on the laptop and an external hard drive and that 129 files contained words often used in child pornography.

Kinney lived in Wynola when he was arrested in late 2009. He posted bail and has continued to teach adults, his attorney said, during the investigation and trial. He has been living in Borrego Springs and also in Barstow where he grew up.

Kinney's father, from Barstow, has attended the trial every day. Several of Kinney's relatives testified for the prosecution about feeling uncomfortable with some of Kinney's behavior with the young girls over a period of seven years.

A friend of Kinney's came briefly to the trial one day last week. Kinney hugged him and told him, "Thanks for coming." When the friend asked how he was doing, he responded, "Pretty fine."