ORLANDO, Fla. -- Prosecutors entered Tigger's costume into evidence Tuesday in the trial of a Walt Disney World worker accused of groping the breast of a 13-year-old girl while posing for photos.

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Tigger Costume Shown In Court Tigger Costume Entered As Evidence; Jurors To Try On Costume 36-Year-Old Man Accused Of Groping Girl At Magic Kingdom Goes On Trial

Jurors will get the chance to try on a Tigger costume in the jury room. Walt Disney World officials suggested Tigger's costume be altered before being introduced as evidence. The defense attorney moonlights as Goofy and Tigger at the theme park resort.

"This whole trial has a bunch of things unique about it," Matt Benefiel, court administrator for the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Orlando, said Tuesday on the second day of trial, which is expected to last through Wednesday.

Michael Chartrand, 36, is accused of misdemeanor battery and lewd and lascivious molestation, a felony. If convicted he faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. He rejected a plea offer on Monday that would have kept him out of prison.

He was suspended without pay from his job and his fiance left him after he was arrested in April.

During deliberations, jurors will get the chance to try on the Tigger costume. Defense attorney Jeffrey Kaufman Jr. said he wanted the jurors to feel what it's like inside the hot, stuffy costume so they know how difficult it is to wear.

"Johnny Cochran with the glove thing might be outdone," said Kaufman, referring to the O.J. Simpson trial.

Benefiel said he can't remember another case where jurors were allowed to try on an outfit.

But the use of the Tigger costume during the trial worried Disney officials enough that a company attorney suggested to the defense attorney that the costume be dyed black and white and its ears be removed, Kaufman said last week.

The Tigger costume, covered in a black garment bag and stuffed in a cardboard box, was entered into evidence as state's exhibit No. 7 on Tuesday.

"Our hope is that the use of our costume will be handled with appropriate sensitivity so as to preserve the dreams and magic for our younger guests as much as possible," Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said.

Prosecutor William Jay told jurors during opening arguments that such magic was stolen from the victim when she posed with Tigger and her mother for photos last February.

"He abused his job as a costumed character to steal a little girl's innocence," Jay said.

Much of the trial's contention hinges on whether photos show Tigger's hands on the breasts of the girl and her mother, who later told her daughter she too was groped.

Kaufman said he plans to introduce into evidence Walt Disney World promotional literature that have photos showing what looks like costumed characters' hands on visitors' breasts.

"You're going to get a lot of interpretations," Kaufman told jurors.

The defense attorney also planned to call an expert witness who will bring new meaning to the word character witness: a Walt Disney World employee who plays the costumed characters at the parks. The expert was expected to explain the protocol for taking pictures with guests.

Kaufman, who moonlights at the theme park resort working sometimes as Goofy and Tigger, took the job for free.

"Disney characters don't make any money. They're broke," Kaufman said. "There are hundreds of issues that come up, that, I hate to say, if you haven't worn the costume and you haven't worked there, you don't understand."

Watc Local 6 News for more on this story.