AUBURN – Opening arguments in the trial of a former elementary school teacher charged with sexually touching students and assaulting them are expected today in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

The trial of James Raymond Jr., 27, had been scheduled to continue Monday – a jury was selected last week – but was postponed because his attorney, Walter McKee, had to be in Augusta that day, a court clerk said.

Raymond is charged with four counts of assault and three counts of unlawful sexual touching, all misdemeanors. Each count is punishable by up to a year in jail.

He is free on $5,000 cash bail, but confined most of the day to his Auburn home by court order.

Raymond taught music at Park Avenue Elementary School until last fall, when a 7-year-old girl complained Raymond had touched her by sliding his hand up her skirt. The seven charges involve four of his former students, a prosecutor said.