jbulger@journalnet.com

POCATELLO - The alleged victim in the trial of Jose Manuel Sanchez finally finished up her testimony Wednesday morning after five days on the stand.

Sanchez, 61, is charged with scorching the woman with a wood-burning tool daily over a four-month period in 2007.

The direct and cross-examination of the victim was unusually long, in great part due to inquiry regarding the approximately 16 years the woman and Sanchez were involved in a romantic relationship that allegedly soured into abuse and torture. Objections to testimony and physical evidence, the bulk of which were made by Sanchez' counsel, have also required dozens of sidebar conferences and arguments regarding admissibility, often necessitating the jury being escorted from the courtroom.

Sanchez' attorney, Douglas Dykman attempted to question the 49-year-old woman Wednesday morning about her occasional use of LSD during her teen years, but the line of questioning was squelched by Sixth District Judge David Nye for lack of foundation for the incidents having any link to events in 2007.

Dykman asked the woman about many of the days during which she contends she was burned by Sanchez. Other than three specific days, the woman has repeatedly testified that she does not have specific recollections of the days' events, but asserted there was no break in the alleged torture that began on Sept. 1, 2007 and ended on Dec. 22 with Sanchez' arrest.

After finishing his cross-examination, Dykman moved to strike the woman's testimony about any alleged torture for all days save those three which she specifically recalled events. Nye denied the motion.

During a brief redirect-examination, the prosecution asked the woman how she and Sanchez communicated during their relationship.

"He speaks brilliant English," the woman said.

Sanchez has had the services of an interpreter through the trial and much of the pretrial proceedings.

Bannock County Deputy Prosecutor JaNiece Price also asked the woman why she had retained some items from more than a dozen years ago that have been introduced into evidence. They included an anonymous letter in Spanish which allegedly directed her to shave her body hair or face reprisals, and a placard inscribed "Enter and die" which she found on her back door.

"Because of the nature of the threats I thought I might need them in a setting like this … because they threatened my life," she said.

The prosecution next called the woman's daughter to the stand, who testified that her relationship with Sanchez was friendly and supportive, beginning in her childhood years.

"He showed he cared for me, just like a father would do for a child," she said.

The daughter said she began to harbor doubts about the sincerity of Sanchez' benevolence, particularly towards her mother, as she reached adulthood. In early 2007, she became concerned as she noted her mother's loss of teeth. She testified that she confronted her mother and Sanchez to try to find out what was occurring.

"I didn't think he was being very nice to my mom," she testified. "He said, 'I'm helping your mom. She needs help and I'm helping her.'"

She said her mother explained her shaved head as a necessary to relieve the discomfort of psoriasis on her scalp, and the tooth loss due to advanced gum disease.

The daughter said Sanchez told her it would take five more years for him to effectively aid the girl's mother.

The daughter said sometime later in 2007, her mother confessed she was not doing well and was contemplating suicide. She said she began calling area mental health providers for advice.

In late 2007, the daughter said she and her mother agreed on a password which could be employed to bring the police to the home.

The daughter testified that on Dec. 22, she came to her mother's home, where she divulged the ongoing abuse.

"She pulled up her skirt from the bottom," the daughter said. "Before she did, she warned me to be ready for what I'd see."

The daughter testified there were "hundreds" of wounds on the woman's body.

She said she went home and immediately contacted the police, but asked them not to respond to the house, per her mother's wishes. Around 10:30 p.m., she received a call in which she said her mother did not greet her, but she heard her cries for help.

She said she called police and then went to her mother's home, where law enforcement had already responded. After Sanchez was arrested and escorted to a patrol car, she said she was allowed in and was asked to take two of the more sensitive digital photos of her mother's injuries.

Prosecutors next called Chubbuck Police Officer Shane Call, the first responder to the alleged victim's house on Dec. 22. He recounted that the woman was "very quiet, very timid" during his encounter, often looking back to Sanchez as if for affirmation.

Call said he had an officer wait in the living room with Sanchez as he escorted the woman to the kitchen to question her. He said the woman began trembling and crying and ultimately showed him many of the burns and described ongoing abuse at Sanchez' hands. He said she ultimately led him to the wood-burning tool and other pieces of evidence in the home alleged to have been used in her abuse.

Call said he then attempted to speak with Sanchez, but Sanchez refused to speak with him. He said he then placed Sanchez under arrest and placed him, handcuffed, in his patrol car.

Bannock County Sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Young also took the stand, recounting his encounter with the woman, noting she was unable or unwilling to look at him during the questioning. He also noted seeing the wood-burning tool on the dresser in the woman's bedroom.

The trial resumes at 9 a.m. today.