**Updated: 7:48 a.m. 10/23/13**

Brian Calhoun, former professor at Fresno City College, has been found guilty of misdemeanor battery in court Friday. Calhoun was visibly upset by the verdict, and he opted to postpone his sentencing until November 22. Stay tuned for more information.

**Updated: 5:08 p.m. 10/17/13**

Brian Calhoun took the stand in his defense yesterday. If one thing was made clear by his testimony, it’s that he believes he is innocent of the crime he is charged with.

During his testimony Calhoun painted himself as the victim and not the attacker.

Calhoun says that two unidentified, male students were standing next to Gomez with their fists raised, taunting him saying “what’s your name, what’s your name?”

He said he was distracted and frightened by the two men and as a result, accidentally collided with the wall and Kevynn. He said Gomez immediately started punching him in the face as he backed away so he grabbed her arms and “laid” her down on the ground.

At one point, Calhoun even got up and stood in the middle of the courtroom and demonstrated his moves as he held Gomez’s arms to her sides to stop her from hitting him and quickly “laid” her down on her back.

“I put my arms around her and I took her down I don’t know if her feet left the ground or not” Calhoun said as he stood in the middle of the courtroom “I did that as I testified earlier because by holding her there was still a possibility that she could get her arms loose and hit me.”

Under questioning by Prosecutor Michael Brummell Calhoun also testified that he was never given a chance to tell his side of the story to authorities.

“It wasn’t appropriate, no one asked me for that”  Calhoun said. Calhoun also called his interview with police officers following the incident  a “cursory interview at best.”

Both the prosecution and defense have rested their cases; closing arguments will be heard tomorrow and then the jury will begin the process of deciding the verdict.

Original article from 5:46 p.m. 10/16/13:

Former Fresno City College instructor Brian Calhoun will take the stand in his own defense in the Battery trial against him today.

Calhoun’s attorney Roger Nuttall is expected to call the former Education instructor to the stand to counter the charge against him for assaulting a student in the Spring 2013 semester.

This will mark the first time that Calhoun will speak about the altercation that cost him his job at FCC.

Prosecutor Michael Brummell rested his case against Calhoun on Tuesday afternoon after calling two more students to testify about the altercation. These witnesses — history student Rocio Hernandez and liberal studies student Kamee Wiggins — brought the total number of FCC students who have testified in the case to nine. These witnesses range from students who were classmates of Gomez to students of Calhoun who saw what happened between the two parties.

The prosecution’s final witnesses testified about what they saw during the altercation.

Hernandez’s testimony supported what many other witnesses have said throughout the duration of the trial.

“He [Calhoun] seemed upset, very, very upset,” said Hernandez who knew the instructor from having taken his class in past years.

After the prosecution rested its case Nuttall moved for a “judgement of acquittal” which the judge promptly denied.

He then called two State Center Community College District police officers, Brian Williams and Chris Caldwell. These two were the first officers to arrive at the scene and took interviews following the incident.

Nuttall then called two private investigators who worked for him on the Calhoun case to the stand. Ken Wagner and David Schiavon both spoke of services they provided for Nuttall.

Nuttall asserted that Calhoun was simply trying to get Gomez’s name and the only way for him to do that was by grabbing her.

In his response, Brummell said, “He [Calhoun] had no authority to touch Ms. Gomez, no authority as a teacher. He was an adult; she was an adult; he had no right.”

Calhoun, a former instructor, is on trial for allegedly assaulting current FCC student Kevynn Gomez on March 22, 2013 in the Old Administration Building.

On that fateful day in March,  Fresno City College students and faculty were preparing for their spring break. In  OAB Room 216, substitute Chicano-Latino studies instructor Michael Medrano, who was also the first prosecutor’s witness, was administering the midterm exam late in the class period because of a difficulty in locating the tests.

According to David Castro, a student in the CLS class who also testified during the early stages of the trial, “70 to 75 percent of the class was still working on their tests” when Calhoun walked in and demanded the class vacate the classroom because it was “his time to use the class.”

Various witnesses described Calhoun as “angry,” “irritated” and “upset” as he ordered the substitute teacher and his students to leave the room so his class could start.

After Medrano instructed his students to turn their tests in, Gomez exited the room. As she walked past Calhoun, she uttered the words, “piss off a–hole” toward the instructor.

Calhoun allegedly followed Gomez out of the room and began asking her name in a loud voice. When Gomez refused to give him her name, Calhoun then grabbed her arm and pinned her up against the wall, according to accounts of those who testified.

Many of the witnesses have also stated that Calhoun pinned Gomez up to the wall with his right forearm across her chest,  They all gestured to demonstrate the actions they saw that day.

“His arm was across her upper chest,” said Cori Murphy, a student in Calhoun’s education class. “She was pinned up against the wall pretty forcefully.”

Witnesses also agree that Gomez punched Calhoun in the face several times as she struggled to free herself from him; he asked her name repeatedly while she told him to let her go.

During the trial, Roger Nuttall, Calhoun’s attorney,  has repeatedly brought up that Gomez never gave Calhoun her name as he requested.

Nuttall said in the opening statements of the trial that Calhoun was simply looking for her name in order to file a “disruptive student report.” Nuttall also stated the same during his motion for a judgement of acquittal.

Many of the witnesses have described Calhoun lifting and “slamming” Gomez to the floor.

The majority of the student witnesses used the word “slam” to describe the way in which Calhoun allegedly grabbed and dropped Gomez during the incident.

The witnesses all agree  that after the alleged “bodyslam,” several students began to intervene to get Gomez away from Calhoun.

Joseph Navarro, a student who was also in the CLS class, was one of the students who interfered during the scuffle.

“I lunged my body forward just to use it as a barrier between Calhoun and Ms. Gomez,” Navarro said.

According to multiple witnesses, Calhoun was the aggressor in the situation, but Nuttall contends that Calhoun is the victim and was punched in the face.

Fallout stemming from the incident included Calhoun being placed on administrative leave and being fired from his job as an FCC instructor after a few months.

The trial was set to start on Sept. 25, but was moved to begin Sept. 30, and because no courtrooms were available, the start date of the trial was moved to Oct.1.

The witnesses have shown many similarities in their testimony including where Calhoun was standing when he first entered the room, where Gomez uttered the insults at Calhoun, the words she directed at him and where Calhoun confronted Gomez and initially grabbed her in the hall.

Gomez herself testified and gave a tearful account of her view of the events on that day in March on Oct. 9.

“I was trying to get away,” Gomez said, bursting into tears while recounting the incident to the prosecutor.

Calhoun has kept a plain look on his face throughout the students’ testimony and has made movements only when writing notes or whispering to Nuttall.

Fresno County Superior Court Judge Denise Whitehead admonished Calhoun several times for his loud whispering during the  testimony of witnesses, once when an SCCCD police officer was speaking and another time when a student was testifying.

“It has been a problem,” Whitehead said to Calhoun’s attorney. “If I can hear it, I’m sure the jury can hear it too.”

With the prosecutor now done with his case, Nuttall announced on Tuesday that Calhoun will tell the jury his story today when court resumes at 9 a.m.