A jury this morning began deliberating whether Victoria Morrison was lying when she testified Thursday she never touched the teacher she was accused of hitting.

Mrs. Morrison, 32, of 1027 Ridge Ave., Sharpsville, told jurors she never touched Sharpsville Middle School teacher Lewis Rosa on Feb. 23, 2001.

Mrs. Morrison is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, and disorderly conduct.

Her account of the incident was in contradiction to testimony from Rosa, school administrators, and seventh grade classmates, all of whom claiming that an upset Mrs. Morrison hit Rosa in the chest.

Mrs. Morrison said her seventh grade daughter was crying when she called her mother to take her home from school that day. When she got to the school, Mrs. Morrison said her daughter approached her in the hallway outside Rosa's classroom, still crying and saying only "Mr. Rosa."

Rosa said Wednesday he took the girl aside for passing a derogatory note directed at the teacher that day and later let her leave class to go to the nurse's office.

In the doorway to the classroom, Mrs. Morrison said she calmly asked Rosa, "Could you come outside in the hallway? I want to speak with you."

Rosa said Mrs. Morrison demanded angrily, "Get out here, now."

Mrs. Morrison said Rosa told her, "Don't come into my classroom talking to me like that and disrupting my class."

"When I turned my head, he said. 'Don't touch me.' I don't know why he said that," Mrs. Morrison said.

Thomas Bonaquit, guidance counselor, and Walter Karsonovich, principal, testified they stepped between Mrs. Morrison and Rosa and escorted Mrs. Morrison out of the building. Both administrtors said Mrs. Morrison hit the teacher.

According to their testimony, as she was being escorted out, Mrs. Morrison said of Rosa, "I hate that (expletive) man."

Mrs. Morrison denied saying she hated Rosa. She said the school administrators were lying.