PIERRE - A Hughes County jury is being asked to decide whether former state lawmaker Ted Klaudt's trickery met the legal definition of second-degree rape when he persuaded foster daughters to let him touch their breasts and genital areas.

When the trial opened last week, assistant attorney general Patricia DeVaney told jurors that Klaudt used lies and manipulation to rape the girls under the pretense that he was determining whether they were healthy enough to sell their reproductive eggs to infertile couples.

Defense attorney Tim Rensch then told the jury that although Klaudt's conduct was wrong, his so-called medical examinations did not amount to rape because the young women allowed Klaudt to touch them.

"It was something that was immoral and wrong, but it was not forcible rape," Rensch said.

The opening three days of the trial then featured testimony from foster daughters and other young women who described the examinations Klaudt said would qualify them to make thousands of dollars selling their eggs.

Jurors listened with grim expressions as a law enforcement officer read e-mails, often laced with vulgar language, that Klaudt allegedly sent under fake names to promote the egg-donation scheme and a plan to make an erotic film featuring a gynecological examination.

Klaudt's trial resumes Tuesday, and Circuit Judge James W. Anderson has told the jury the trial should end Thursday or Friday.

Klaudt, 49, a Corson County farmer and rancher, is charged with four counts of second-degree rape in Hughes County. The charges involve two foster daughters who testified he touched them improperly while conducting egg-donation examinations in his Pierre motel suite during the 2005 and 2006 legislative sessions. One of the young women was a page during a legislative session.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison on each count.

Klaudt also faces charges of rape, other sex offenses, witness tampering and stalking in Corson County, where he lives. The trial on the Corson County charges is scheduled to begin Nov. 13 in Deadwood.

The girls lived in Klaudt's home as part of a program that provides foster care for young people who have no safe home to return to after completing time in reform schools.

Under South Dakota law, second-degree rape involves the use of force or coercion.

A key question in Klaudt's trial is whether the deception he used amounted to coercion, which involves compelling someone to do something.

Rensch, the defense attorney, told the jury Klaudt's actions did not amount to rape because neither force nor coercion was used. Each of the girls was older than 16, the age of consent, and they agreed to the examinations, he said.

DeVaney, the prosecutor, said Klaudt committed rape when he used coercion to touch the young women's breasts and penetrate them with his fingers and a vibrator.

The first witness, now 19, said she went along with the scheme because she wanted to make money by donating her eggs, but she was uneasy during the examinations that occurred when she was 17 and 18.

Under questioning by Rensch, the woman acknowledged that Klaudt never did anything to deprive her of her free will. But a few minutes later, under questioning by DeVaney, the woman agreed she could not exercise her free will when she was getting false information about the egg donation scheme.

The second alleged victim, now 20, said she initially wanted Klaudt to examine her because she was interested in getting money by donating eggs and wanted to find out if she was fertile. She also said she never would have agreed to the test if she had known it involved a vibrator and no samples would be sent to a lab for testing.

The second woman also said she asked Klaudt to stop a genital examination three times, but he did not stop.

Three other women also testified about incidents in which Klaudt examined them for the egg-donation scheme.

State law officers told the jury that Klaudt's computer was used to send messages under a number of names. One of those claimed to be a woman who worked for an egg-donation programs, and those e-mails urged one of the foster daughters to let Klaudt conduct another examination.

Klaudt served eight years in the House from 1999-2006 and left because of term limits. He ran for a Senate seat last year but lost to the Democratic candidate in a sprawling district that covers much of northwestern South Dakota.