WOODLAND — The wife and daughter of a former California Highway Patrol officer accused of domestic violence were found in contempt of court this week after they refused to testify against the defendant on his first day of trial.
His son may receive the same fate today.
Armando Ortega, 44, watched from the defense table as first his estranged wife, then his son and daughter, took the witness stand in Yolo Superior Court and swore to tell the truth. They stated their names and spelled them for the record.
But when Deputy District Attorney Deanna Hays tried asking the witnesses their ages, where they lived and how they knew Ortega, all three gave the same reply: “I refuse to answer any questions.”
Judge Janene Beronio ordered the witnesses to answer, but still they refused. So she found both the wife and teenage daughter in contempt, having presided over prior hearings where they also declined to testify.
Ortega’s 20-year-old son, who has given prior testimony but refused to repeat those statements on Wednesday, was assigned a court-appointed attorney to advise him on the consequences of his actions before being ordered to return to court today.
Ortega faces felony and misdemeanor domestic violence charges in connection with an Aug. 28, 2014, incident in which his wife reported that her husband choked her in their Woodland home because he suspected her of cheating on him.
“I don’t want you to be deceived by the simplicity of the evidence,” Hays told the seven-man, five-woman jury during opening statements Wednesday, anticipating that several of her key witnesses would not be cooperative. “They don’t want this proceeding. But you will hear their words.”
Jurors are expected to hear a recorded statement given by Ortega’s son to a Woodland police officer on the night of the incident, as well as testimony from a friend of the wife, from whose home she called 911 about an hour after the alleged attack.
Photos of injuries to the wife’s neck also will be introduced as evidence, and the jury heard a readback Wednesday of the son’s testimony from a prior evidentiary hearing.
Defense attorney Erica Graves, meanwhile, described the prosecution’s case as “lacking” and worthy of an acquittal for her client.
She said the summer of 2014 was a challenging one for the Ortega family. Armando Ortega had just returned from a second military tour in Iraq, and his suspicions of infidelity — gleaned from cell phone text messages — led to hostility and fighting between the couple.
“They were angry. They were both yelling and screaming at each other. It wasn’t pretty,” Graves said in her opening remarks. “But it’s not against the law to get angry at your wife for cheating on you.”
Later Wednesday, after jurors went home for the day, Beronio ordered all three witnesses back into the courtroom, where she rescinded a previous order for Ortega’s wife to serve 50 hours of community service due to her refusal to testify.
With 12 of those service hours already completed, however, Beronio gave the woman $120 credit toward a $500 fine also imposed in the case. The judge instructed Ortega’s daughter to write an essay “on how this has affected you and why you chose not to testify.”
The girl’s court-appointed attorney, Dave Muller, objected to the sanction, saying she’s entitled to the same protections as any other domestic violence victim and “should be treated with respect.”
Replied Beronio: “She’s been treated with dignity and respect. But she simply cannot violate the law.”
Ortega’s trial resumes this morning. Assigned to the CHP’s Woodland office at the time of his arrest, he has since been terminated from the law-enforcement agency.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene