A 12-person jury will continue deliberating Friday whether a 49-year-old Niwot man who admitted to drinking an 8-year-old girl's urine and spending time with her in the nude is guilty of sex assault on a child.

Joseph S. Cardillo testified during his trial Thursday that he received "urine therapy" training in India and attended nudist schools, and drinking urine and walking around nude are normal practices in "alternative communities."

"I'm different, that's for sure," Cardillo told jurors.

The girl's mother, Lora Lee Hansen-Beard, said her daughter was immediately taken with Cardillo, and she asked him to spend time with the young girl. Cardillo told jurors that he "took on" the girl and treated her "like I would

Joseph Cardillo, accused of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl and drinking her urine, testified during his trial today.
raise my child," buying her candy, toys and clothes.

"We were two peas in a pod, and we thought alike and could read each other's minds -- I've never had a relationship like that before," he said. "I love her very much."

Hansen-Beard and Cardillo met at a Hare Krishna meeting in Boulder.

The girl's teachers called authorities in October 2007 because they were concerned about her welfare. She cried often, couldn't focus on schoolwork and would come to school unfed and in dirty clothes, police said.

According to police reports, the girl told investigators she and Cardillo often spent time together in the nude, including bathing and sleeping together, that Cardillo used a sex toy on her and that he drank her urine from his cupped hands.

Cardillo testified that the girl wanted him to drink her urine.

"It was a ritual and I honor her for it, but I don't know why I did it," Cardillo testified. "It's not accepted practice in this country -- it might have been different in India."

Cardillo said he was tired at the time and that he'd had one hour of sleep.

"And the way she asked me was innocent and cute," he said. "She was getting it out of her system. It was her suggestion. Not to put blame on her. I did make a choice to accept, which is my fault."

Cardillo said he was a nudist as a child and spent some time nude with the young girl. He said she was nude about 1 percent of the time they were together, and he was nude about 5 percent of that 1 percent of time.

But, Cardillo testified, he tried to dissuade her from taking off her clothes.

"Even if she was adamant, I would change the subject and say, 'We don't need to do that,'" he said. "It was way blown out of proportion for what it was. I don't mean to make it sound less in my testimony, but it was way blown out of proportion."

Cardillo faces charges of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and failure to appear in court after he fled the state earlier this year and was arrested in Sedona, Ariz.

If convicted of the felony sex assault charge, he could face life in prison.

Cardillo and his attorneys told jurors that he never was aroused or gratified by anything that happened when he was with the child, and he never meant her any harm. Prosecutors argued that the totality of the facts in the case -- including the incident involving a vibrating massage device -- clearly point to sexual assault.

Hansen-Beard, the mother of the young girl, was convicted of misdemeanor child abuse and sentenced last September to two years of probation. Her daughter has been placed in the care of other family members.

Hansen-Beard, who said she's a nudist, testified about her daughter's relationship with Cardillo on Thursday. She said she knew everything they did together -- including their being nude and the time Cardillo drank the girl's urine -- and approved of him as a guardian.

She said her daughter liked to be nude when she was at home and the young girl knew about sex and her own sexuality. She described her daughter as "headstrong."

"If she decided to do something, get out of her way," Hansen-Beard said.

Camera Staff Writer Erica Meltzer contributed to this report.