6.Sarah Boone — Direct (Part 2)
691 lines(Jury entered.)
THE COURT: State, do you recognize our jury?
THE COURT: Defense, do you recognize our jury?
MR. OWENS: Yes.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you. You-all can be seated.
Members of the jury, again, if you could, once seated, raise your hands to confirm that you've complied with the Court's instructions during our last break.
The record will reflect all hands have been raised.
Mr. Owens, you may continue with your inquiry, sir.
MR. OWENS: Thank you, Judge.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: Ms. Boone, so I think we left off, you had called your ex-husband?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: All right. After you called your ex-husband, what happened after that?
SARAH BOONE: I ended up falling asleep.
MR. OWENS: Okay. Do you remember waking up the next morning?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Did you sleep in?
SARAH BOONE: Not intentionally.
MR. OWENS: Okay. But you didn't get up at 8:00, did you?
SARAH BOONE: No.
MR. OWENS: Okay. Did you wake up closer to noon?
SARAH BOONE: I believe so, yes.
MR. OWENS: Did you check the time?
SARAH BOONE: No.
MR. OWENS: Now, did you hear some -- your phone ringing?
SARAH BOONE: Yes. My phone was ringing.
MR. OWENS: And did you answer it right away?
SARAH BOONE: No.
MR. OWENS: Do you know how -- approximately how many times it rang before you answered it?
SARAH BOONE: I believe the call was about three times.
MR. OWENS: Did you know who was calling?
SARAH BOONE: I figured it was my ex-husband.
MR. OWENS: And why would he be calling?
SARAH BOONE: To make sure that I was still on schedule to pick up our son.
MR. OWENS: At 3:00 that afternoon?
SARAH BOONE: Correct.
MR. OWENS: And he goes to school there close-by?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: All right. When you woke up, did you stay in bed for a while?
SARAH BOONE: For a little while, yes.
MR. OWENS: All right. Tell the jury what happened when you got up.
SARAH BOONE: I knew it was my ex-husband calling repeatedly. I didn't answer right away because one of our problems is that he doesn't understand that I'm doing things around the apartment and looking for jobs and so on and so forth. So I inevitably just let it ring, and I sat -- or I laid in the bed and I figured that Jorge was downstairs either drinking or looking for jobs or may have just left, and so eventually I decided to get out of the bed and start moving to go downstairs. I was motivated enough to go downstairs. And when I went downstairs, it was very quiet, so I had the understanding -- I believed that he had left, and --
MR. OWENS: Did you check to see if he was -- where would he be looking for a job at?
SARAH BOONE: Usually on the couch. He would have my son's laptop and he and I -- which we would share to look for jobs.
MR. OWENS: You-all would have the son's laptop?
SARAH BOONE: Correct.
MR. OWENS: And the TV was not working at this time?
SARAH BOONE: The TV was not there.
MR. OWENS: Okay. So you thought he would be in the living room on the laptop?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: He was not there?
SARAH BOONE: No.
MR. OWENS: Where else did you look for him?
SARAH BOONE: I looked on the back porch. I went through the front door to see if my car was there, thinking maybe he had taken my car. I checked the bathroom. And when I was checking the bathroom, I saw the suitcase and I remembered about the night prior. And I unzipped the suitcase and --
MR. OWENS: Let me stop you there. You said you were in the bathroom when you saw the suitcase, or coming out of the bathroom?
SARAH BOONE: No. Where our bathroom is, I would have to go to the bathroom here. And then when I turned around, I noticed the suitcase and I remembered.
MR. OWENS: How did you feel when you saw the suitcase?
SARAH BOONE: I don't think I've ever experienced anything like that before.
MR. OWENS: Describe it for the jury.
SARAH BOONE: I guess it was -- I was aghast, and I just can't describe the feeling. It was terror to a certain degree.
MR. OWENS: I'm sorry, say that again now.
SARAH BOONE: It was terror to a certain degree. I just can't describe it in words the feeling of remembering, and then he was still in there.
MR. OWENS: So what did you do?
SARAH BOONE: I immediately unzipped the -- I immediately unzipped the suitcase and I was screaming, "Jorge, Jorge, Jorge," and I was shaking him, I was shaking him. And I pulled him out and I stretched him out flat and then I began instantly trying to do CPR and then was trying to look for a pulse or a breath or just anything. And was just screaming his name over and over and over again and, "Come on, Jorge, come on, Jorge." And I continued CPR, continued CPR, and I continued CPR, and he was gurgling and --
MR. OWENS: What color was he?
SARAH BOONE: What color was he?
MR. OWENS: Yes.
SARAH BOONE: He was purple.
MR. OWENS: At some point, did you call your -- your ex-husband?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
When he started to gurgle, and I knew that my -- my ex-husband is notorious for bringing my son over in very inopportune times when Jorge is possibly drunk or doing things not appropriate for my son to see and I just didn't know what to do. It was just a quick knee-jerk reaction. Brian was kind of my go-to person because of my family being deceased and I don't have anyone else that I can call, and I just wanted to ensure that he would not bring my son over in the process of all of this at some point.
MR. OWENS: So you called him?
SARAH BOONE: I called him.
MR. OWENS: Did you ask him what to do or did you just tell him to come over?
SARAH BOONE: I just told him to come over.
MR. OWENS: Did you tell him that you felt like Jorge was dead?
SARAH BOONE: Yes, I did.
MR. OWENS: And how far -- you said it's five minutes from house to house?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Did you call him back?
SARAH BOONE: Yes, because he was taking so long. It felt the seconds were hours. Yes. I'm still doing CPR at the same time, in the process of it. I'm doing CPR I don't know how many times.
MR. OWENS: Now, did he get there?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Did he walk in?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Did he walk out?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: What did he tell you to do?
SARAH BOONE: Call 911.
MR. OWENS: What did you do?
SARAH BOONE: I called 911.
MR. OWENS: Is that the recording we've heard here in this trial?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Did you love Jorge?
SARAH BOONE: I -- to this day.
MR. OWENS: Why did you love him?
SARAH BOONE: Jorge was very passionate. Jorge was a very real person. Jorge was nice to me on the good days. Jorge complimented me. Jorge and I were two bodies with one soul he and I would always say. I don't believe that I've ever had a connection with anyone like I have with Jorge.
MR. OWENS: Did you have that connection with your ex-husband?
SARAH BOONE: I did not.
MR. OWENS: Was it even close?
SARAH BOONE: No.
MR. OWENS: Jorge had some good traits, didn't he?
SARAH BOONE: Very much.
MR. OWENS: Did Jorge have some bad traits?
SARAH BOONE: He did.
MR. OWENS: Did you drink too much?
SARAH BOONE: I did.
MR. OWENS: Did Jorge drink too much?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Tell the jury about Jorge's drinking.
SARAH BOONE: If Jorge was able to, he would drink from sun up to sun down. And me having my son and trying to work and maintain the home and just have a life, a normal life as best as I could, somehow that upset Jorge. And because I had a certain dollar amount from my divorce settlement, at one point it was -- from wine, we could afford vodka. Soa lot of the times he would take my car and my debit card and go buy the large -- we call them handles of vodka, which is the big, big bottle. And sometimes he would finish that all off on his own throughout an entire period of a -- of a day into an evening. That's honestly where I thought he was going to be that morning when I came downstairs, because he's notorious for just automatically already being outside from drinking all the time.
MR. OWENS: All right. And you said you have an alcohol problem, Jorge has an alcohol problem?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: How did Jorge's drinking adversely affect you?
SARAH BOONE: It would debilitate my ability to help him the way that I was always trying to help him. Because it would be one good day, a day of survival, and then it would be another day where I'm having to peel him off of me and call 911.
MR. OWENS: Why would he get that way? Tell us his pattern as it relates to drinking and then --
THE COURT: Approach.
(At the bench.)
MR. JAY: Judge, I don't think pattern is appropriate. If there's specific instances of violence, that's --
THE COURT: Are we getting into reputation? What are we getting into?
MR. OWENS: I think it's consistent with what I had argued before, that there were times when, you know, he would drink and then she, just over time -- you know, you get to know a person, you're living with them, you're an intimate partner. Over time, you learn that when he gets to a certain level of intoxication, that he gets sad or moody and then eventually he gets angry and belligerent and then there are times that he gets violent with Sarah. So it's just a cycle. That's why she said I was trying to keep him occupied that day, because she knew that if he's got the alcohol there to drink, he's going to consume it and then it might get to a point where they get into a violent episode, and that was just -- you know, they were together three and a half years, so you can imagine there was a lot of history of that going on. I'll refer to it as --
THE COURT: Any other further argument?
MR. JAY: I just think we should get in specific dates and get into those, because one person is not a broad enough community for reputation evidence under the rules.
MR. OWENS: And she's not going to remember every date, you know.
MR. OWENS: Excuse me?
MR. OWENS: Part of the syndrome --
THE COURT: Uh-huh.
MR. OWENS: Part of the syndrome of battered spouse is depression and then not having a good memory about all the events due to each repression or whatever -- whatever the doctors testify to, but there's going to be evidence that --
THE COURT: My concern is, is utilizing -- utilization of the word "pattern." It sounds like we're getting into habit evidence here, which is I don't think something that you can get into to. Now, if you want to rephrase it and say, This is what would happen and this was the circumstances that seemed to continue, it may be a different story, but the word "pattern" is something I've got a problem with.
MR. OWENS: Tell me what you-all are thinking about, because I don't want to -- I don't want to violate the Court's ruling.
THE COURT: My understanding, based on the case law, is that there can be reputation evidence for prior incidences, and we're kind of dancing between the two of those, that this is generally what would happen; he would drink, become emotional, become sad, and then become aggressive. The State's concern, I think, is the use of the word "pattern," which I think we're going into habit and routine practice, which I don't think is permitted for the circumstances that you're trying to offer it for.
MR. OWENS: Okay.
THE COURT: So you can rephrase it and then we need to start getting into the specific instances.
MR. OWENS: Okay.
THE COURT: Thank you.
(In open court.)
THE COURT: Objection is overruled for now.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: You-all were together three and a half years?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Is there times when he would get to a state of intoxication where he would get violent against you?
SARAH BOONE: Quite often.
MR. OWENS: Judge, can I approach the witness?
THE COURT: Yes, as long as you show it to the State first, please.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: I'm going to show you Defense Exhibit, for identification, P. It's two photographs. Could you look at those photographs and see if you recognize those?
SARAH BOONE: I do.
MR. OWENS: Are those two pictures of your body?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Do they show injuries to your body?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Were those injuries caused by Jorge Torres?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Are those photographs a fair and accurate depiction of the injuries you sustained at the hands of Jorge Torres?
SARAH BOONE: On this occurrence, yes.
MR. OWENS: Do you remember this occurrence?
SARAH BOONE: I don't. It was so often.
MR. OWENS: You don't remember a specific date?
SARAH BOONE: I don't.
MR. OWENS: But you're sure that that's you?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Is that the injuries that he -- what's the injury to the ribcage?
SARAH BOONE: I don't remember specifically. This may -- these may be the pictures -- so when we used to go over to his brother's house, his -- one of his brothers and his --
THE COURT: Sustained.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: You're going to have to answer the question, Ms. Boone.
SARAH BOONE: Oh.
MR. OWENS: Do you know what happened to -- did Jorge cause these injuries?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: All right. Were you-all both drinking at that time?
SARAH BOONE: I don't remember on this instance.
MR. OWENS: Okay. Judge, I'd like to move this exhibit into evidence.
THE COURT: All right. What was premarked as P will be received into evidence without objection as Defense Exhibit 2.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 2 was received in evidence.)
MR. OWENS: I'm not sure I know how to operate this, but...
COURT CLERK: Mr. Owens, may I get it to tag it just to number it, please? Thank you.
THE COURT: Mr. Jay, would you be so kind? Thank you.
MR. OWENS: And I need to ask permission to publish --
THE COURT: Yes, sir.
MR. OWENS: -- Mr. Henderson said.
THE COURT: You may do so.
MR. OWENS: All right. Well, this is magnified, Judge.
SARAH BOONE: It's the top part.
MR. OWENS: Excuse me?
THE COURT: It looks like -- I think there's a wheel on the top where you can use to -- there you go.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: Ms. Boone, is that you?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Are those injuries to your arm?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Were they caused by Jorge Torres?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: And during the same incident, is this you?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Is that an injury or a bruise to your ribcage area?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: And your arm?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: I'm going to show you Identification -- Defense Identification Q. See if you recognize that photograph.
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Is that your thigh?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Okay. Do you remember this incident?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Can you tell the jury what happened?
SARAH BOONE: I wanted to take my dogs for a walk and get off of the back porch.
MR. OWENS: Were you-all drinking?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
And he was upset that I would rather go walk my dogs than sit there and continue to drink, so he slapped my thighs possibly -- as hard as he possibly could and said that, You're not going anywhere. And it was -- it was a good smack on my thigh.
MR. OWENS: All right. Is that a fair and accurate depiction of the wound that you suffered as a result of Jorge Torres slapping you on the thigh?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Judge, I'd like to offer Q into evidence.
THE COURT: What was premarked as Q will be received into evidence without objection as Defense 3.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 3 was received in evidence.)
MR. OWENS: Judge, could I publish?
THE COURT: You may, sir.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: Ma'am, and for the jury's sake, is this the photograph you just mentioned?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: I'm going to show you Identification -- Defense Identification S. See if you recognize that photograph.
SARAH BOONE: I do.
MR. OWENS: Is that your hand?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Is that your blood on your hand?
SARAH BOONE: Yes, it is.
MR. OWENS: Is that you standing, looks like, in a room with flip-flops?
SARAH BOONE: This is in the kitchen at Brian's house.
MR. OWENS: Okay. What happened there?
SARAH BOONE: So Jorge was very drunk and I wanted to leave, and he's notorious for taking my car keys and putting them around his neck and my phone in his -- his crotch area and telling me to come get them. And I really wanted to leave because of how drunk, and I knew the escalation of his anger. I didn't want to be there when it was at its peak.
So I tried to take my keys from around him, because he kept taunting me to take my keys, come get your keys, and so I attempted to go and get my keys and so he ended up getting a butcher knife. And I called -- I had an opportunity to call Brian to come and help me, to please come pick me up, to come get me. And, of course, he brings my son with him. And so I'm in the parking lot asking Brian to please help me get my car keys away from him, and there's neighbors and it's a -- it's a scene at this point. And Jorge comes to the doorway of my townhome wielding the butcher knife saying that -- do I curse?
MR. OWENS: Yeah.
SARAH BOONE: That no one is going to take her fucking keys, no one is going to fucking come into this house, and he's waving the butcher knife. And I walked up to him and -- I just wanted to leave. And my little son who was, I believe, 7 or 8 at the time just is screaming, Give mommy her keys, give mommy her keys, let her leave. Brian was even trying to negotiate with him saying, Please, you know, you know she'll come back, just -- just let her -- just let her leave.
So I went up to try and take the keys from him, and he was pulling on them, and I ended up pulling harder and he pulled them back again to try to pull me in the house, and I pulled them even harder and it ripped my finger. And I -- at one point, the -- I had lost the fingernail and the tip of my pinky was severely gashed.
MR. OWENS: All right. Judge, I'd like to offer this into evidence.
THE COURT: What was it premarked as, Counselor?
MR. OWENS: Looks like S, but Madam Clerk may have to help me with that.
COURT CLERK: It's S.
THE COURT: What was premarked as Defense S will be received into evidence without objection as Defense 4.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 4 was received in evidence.)
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: Ms. Boone, for the jury's sake, is this the picture that you were referring to?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Is that -- is that the nail? Was it still on?
SARAH BOONE: I believe so, yes.
MR. OWENS: Now I'm showing you a composite, Identification L, two photographs. Can you look at those photographs and tell the jury what they are?
SARAH BOONE: I wanted to eat and I, while he was drinking, went and made myself as quickly as I possibly could a microwave bowl of, I believe it was broccoli and cheddar soup. And I didn't get it out in enough time and he came up behind me and he slapped it out of my hand, and it was a second degree burn. I went to the hospital for it.
MR. OWENS: Are those fair and accurate depictions of the injury -- of the burn to your thigh?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: We would like to offer Identification L into evidence.
THE COURT: What was premarked as L will be received into evidence without objection as Defense 5.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 5 was received in evidence.)
MR. OWENS: Permission to publish?
THE COURT: Yes, sir.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: You had to go to the hospital as a result of these injuries to your thigh?
SARAH BOONE: Yes. It was extremely painful.
MR. OWENS: Is that a depiction of the burn?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Is that your thigh?
SARAH BOONE: It's my thigh, yes.
MR. OWENS: And your knee?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: All right. I'm showing you Composite Exhibit, for identification, K, four photographs. Would you look at those, all four, before commenting.
This is a longer story, isn't it?
SARAH BOONE: (No response.)
MR. OWENS: Go ahead and tell them.
SARAH BOONE: So Jorge stabbed me in my leg. I almost bled to death.
MR. OWENS: All right. Well, let's go back and explain. What led up to that?
SARAH BOONE: I thought it would be nice to cook a nice steak dinner. We don't have two nickels to rub together, so I thought it would be special to make a steak dinner and baked potato and go above the normal whatever is left over in the refrigerator, and -- so I spent a lot of time doing that. And Jorge was drinking the entire time and -- on the back porch --
MR. OWENS: You were drinking as well, were you not?
SARAH BOONE: I was drinking.
He was on the back porch while I was in the house and I was cooking. And it was one of those where maybe if I start making dinner now, it will be over at a particular time and we can go to bed at a reasonable time. And I even put it in the bedroom and had a movie set up for us to watch so it would just kind of be dinner in bed.
And then he came upstairs and saw that I had made the steak dinner, and I don't know how to describe how drunk he was, but it definitely was not Jorge. And had him come lay on the bed -- sit on the bed and, you know, put the -- I got the dogs out and I presented him with the steak dinner and sat down and was getting ready to start playing the movie and he starts being very rude and cursing the steak and finding fault with it.
And then, you know, I'm having to encourage him to eat. You know, if you want me to cut it up for you, I will cut it up for you. Did you want some more sour cream for your potato? What can I do to make you happier? And then he started to pull on me and kept saying that -- excuse me -- that I just want to fuck you, fuck you on the steak and fuck you on the potatoes. And I took offense to that and I kept trying to encourage him to eat. I started --
MR. OWENS: Was this just him really drunk and saying nonsense?
SARAH BOONE: I don't know why he was so angry that day. I don't know if it's because I was -- I got steak. I don't know. Most of the time I don't know the reason why.
MR. OWENS: Okay.
SARAH BOONE: So I couldn't take it anymore. Obviously, I was not going to be able to eat, so I started to crawl off of the bed to leave just -- just the bedroom. And he told me, again, that I'm not going anywhere and he stabbed me in my leg and it crunched. You could hear a noise that it made and blood just started to come out of my leg, just like a fountain.
So I got off of the bed. He's starting to freak out and grabbed me a towel. I got a wet towel and I'm sitting here holding the towel and it's increasingly becoming even more and more saturated by the minute. It's just minutes. So I'm going, like, through towels and towels. And I said, Jorge, I think I need to go to the hospital. This is not -- this is not stopping to bleed. This is serious. And he got on his knees and begged me, Please don't call the police, please don't call the police, please don't call the police.
And, inevitably, he went and got my car keys and put them around his neck again and my cell phone, so I was not able to call him -- call anyone and I wasn't able to leave in my car. So I figured I would just go downstairs and I'm just going to go downstairs. And I had propped my foot up on the glass table that we had and blood is just everywhere. Blood is everywhere. I can't keep up with the amount of blood and I'm starting to feel very weak and really weird. And he comes downstairs and he's still begging me, Please don't call 911, please don't call 911. I kept telling him, There's something -- this is serious, this is something. Because he knew that he would probably get arrested or something bad would happen to him.
So I couldn't take him anymore. He was just all over me and just -- I'm bleeding, I'm bleeding very badly and he's having me try to console him. And I kept telling him, Please, I need to call 911, please. And I said, Okay, just let me -- just give me a moment. And I crawled upstairs to my son's bathroom, which is the furthest bathroom away from everything, and I remember holding onto the sink and I looked into the mirror and my lips were blue, and I -- I knew I needed help. I needed help.
And he came upstairs looking frantic for me, calling my name, and then I turned to him and I said, Please, I'm -- I'm going to die. I've lost a lot of blood, there's something wrong, my lips are blue, please. Please. We don't have to call an ambulance, if you could just take me, just -- I'll drive, whatever I can do, please, to go to the hospital for this.
And he said that, before anything happens, I had to concoct a story in order for him to not be arrested or be in trouble when we did inevitably get to the hospital. So I'm sitting there with this blood-soaked towel with blue lips trying to come up with a story of what I can tell them when I go down there so he's not in trouble and telling him that it's okay, and I came up with the -- the story of, that we were sword fighting, silly, after drinking with our steak knives and he accidentally punctured my leg. And from there --
MR. OWENS: How did you get to the hospital?
SARAH BOONE: Originally, he told me to drive and -- because of the amount of alcohol that he drank, and it was -- I couldn't. So he got into the driver's seat and drove me, and the entire time he's barking at me to make sure that I get the story straight. We're sword fighting, okay? We were drunk, you know --
MR. OWENS: Did you go --
SARAH BOONE: -- being silly.
MR. OWENS: Did you go to the emergency room?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: All right. And did you get treated there?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: All right.
SARAH BOONE: I was bloody and --
MR. OWENS: All right. Let me show you the photograph. Did I show you these?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: All right. Is this a fair and accurate depiction of the injury to your leg?
SARAH BOONE: Yes. I had to go to two different hospitals for it.
MR. OWENS: All right. And you lied to medical personnel about how this happened?
SARAH BOONE: Yes. They brought in sheriffs and everything.
MR. OWENS: Was it consistent -- they brought in sheriffs. Did you have to answer to the law enforcement officers?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Did you stick with the story that you and Jorge had agreed?
SARAH BOONE: I did.
MR. OWENS: Judge, I'd like to offer this composite exhibit.
THE COURT: What was premarked as K will be received into evidence without objection as Defendant's 6.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 6 was received in evidence.)
THE COURT: You may publish them.
MR. OWENS: Thank you. Yes.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: And is this -- is this you at the hospital?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Is this the stab wound to your leg?
SARAH BOONE: Yes, and my foot.
MR. OWENS: Is this a closeup of the stab wound?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: And is that -- was that -- did you hurt your foot?
SARAH BOONE: No. Due to the injury, I had other problems with the surgery.
MR. OWENS: Okay. But you eventually recovered?
SARAH BOONE: Eventually, yes.
MR. OWENS: Do you have a scar to that effect?
SARAH BOONE: I do.
MR. OWENS: Judge, can she step down and show the jury?
THE COURT: Mr. Jay?
THE COURT: You may.
There's a lock, sir; out.
(Defendant stepped down.)
MR. OWENS: All right. I don't know how best to do this, Judge, because we've got this bar.
SARAH BOONE: They can probably see it from there (indicating).
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: Is this the injury here? Looks like there's an indention.
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
(Defendant resumed witness stand.)
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: All right. I'm showing you Identification T. Do you recognize that photograph?
SARAH BOONE: I do, yes.
MR. OWENS: All right. Looks like you've got an injury to your lip and to your face. Do you recall this event?
SARAH BOONE: I was trying to sleep and --
MR. OWENS: Had you-all been drinking?
SARAH BOONE: I'm sure. I know that he had been drinking. This is one of the instances where I would go upstairs to try to go to sleep.
MR. OWENS: But you-all drank together a lot, did you not?
SARAH BOONE: Sometimes, yes.
MR. OWENS: But there were times where he wanted to stay up and continue to drink and you wanted to go to bed?
SARAH BOONE: Many times, yes.
MR. OWENS: You were done, he was not?
SARAH BOONE: Correct.
MR. OWENS: Was that one of these times?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: So tell us what happened.
SARAH BOONE: I'm sleeping in the bed sound asleep and he comes into the room and grabs me by my hair a lot of the times. And from here, he scratched me from trying to grab me and then grabbed my hair and pulled me off of the bed and then raked my face across the carpet. These are -- these are carpet burns.
MR. OWENS: To your lips?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: What about to the -- looks like the eyebrow area?
SARAH BOONE: That's from where he, from grabbing me, scratched me and got ahold of me by my hair.
MR. OWENS: Why was he mad at you?
SARAH BOONE: Because I wasn't downstairs with him.
MR. OWENS: He wanted you to be drinking with him?
SARAH BOONE: All the time.
MR. OWENS: All right. I'd like to introduce Identification T into evidence.
THE COURT: What was premarked as T will be received into evidence without objection as Defense Exhibit 7.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 7 was received in evidence.)
MR. OWENS: Oh. Permission to publish?
THE COURT: You may, sir.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: All right. Do you see the injury between the eyes and the injury to the lip?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: As you described?
SARAH BOONE: Yes. And the blood going down my eye, yes.
MR. OWENS: Showing you what has been marked State's Exhibit for -- or Defense Exhibit U for identification.
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Can you describe that photograph?
SARAH BOONE: I can.
MR. OWENS: Go ahead.
SARAH BOONE: This was the first time that I ever called 911. Jorge and I had gone to a bar across the street within walking distance, and at some point I asked a guy or he asked me, somehow or another, it was over a cigarette. And he left and I didn't know where he went. And the bartender said, Oh, he left; he took your car and he left. So --
MR. OWENS: Why would he do that?
SARAH BOONE: Well, I found out when I got home, it was because I spoke to another man, and -- so I paid the tab and I -- I walked home, and he's sitting on the back porch with the handle of vodka. And I was walking on eggshells and terrified and kind of treaded lightly when I came in and he acted all natural and fine.
So I didn't know the reason why that he had just gotten up and left with my car. So then he calls me a whore and then he calls me a slut and then he calls me a cunt and gets up and pushes me. And he pushed me with both of his hands so hard that -- we have this little area where our washer and dryer is and there are metal doors that are on it, and he pushed me into the metal door. And then I fell back, and he got his knees on top of me on my arms here, so I was pinned down, and started to strangle me and hit my head up against the metal closet over and over and over and over and over again and calling me a fucking whore and you're such a slut and fuck you and everything. And I -- my tongue was flopping out of my mouth and I thought I was going to bite my tongue off.
And because of the amount of noise I guess my head was making on the metal door, he slid me down and got back on me and then started to strangle me again. And it was on -- we have carpet, but it's very -- it's like concrete. And I was able to get my arms out from underneath and grab his throat and get him off of me. So I got him off of me and I pushed him off. And he came up and he goes, You fucking bitch, and he stomped my face. And the next thing I know, I woke up. I obviously blacked out.
MR. OWENS: Did you get knocked out?
SARAH BOONE: I -- obviously, I guess, yes. And he was passed out on the floor and I woke up frantic, looking for my phone, and I immediately called 911.
MR. OWENS: Okay. The police arrived on that incident?
SARAH BOONE: Yes, they did.
MR. OWENS: All right. Is this a fair and accurate depiction of the injury you sustained as a result of him kicking you?
SARAH BOONE: Stomping, yes.
MR. OWENS: It was a stomp?
SARAH BOONE: Stomped.
MR. OWENS: With his feet?
SARAH BOONE: All I saw was his heel.
MR. OWENS: We'd ask that this be -- Identification U be admitted into evidence.
THE COURT: What was premarked as U will be received without objection as Defense 8.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 8 was received in evidence.)
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: Is that -- was that the next day or is that a few days later?
SARAH BOONE: That's a couple of days later.
MR. OWENS: All right. And that's the bruising from the kicking in the eye?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Now, the police were called, and we're going to talk about that in a minute, but let me go through these others.
I'm showing you Identification V, Defense. Do you recognize that?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: You have to speak up.
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Can you identify that picture?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Is that your leg?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: And is that, looks like, the injury to your knee?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Is that a fair and accurate depiction of the injury you sustained to your knee?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Do you remember how that happened?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Could you tell the jury?
SARAH BOONE: I was trying to get off of the back porch and he grabbed me and pushed me. And it was a rock or a really sharp piece of mulch from him grabbing me and pushing me onto the ground, and I -- I guess I just happened to hit my knee just right on whatever it was.
MR. OWENS: Were you-all drinking?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Why did he push you?
SARAH BOONE: Because I wanted to get off of the back porch.
MR. OWENS: And he wanted to stay out there?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: He wanted you to be with him? What's the deal with him wanting to be with you all the time?
SARAH BOONE: Insecurity, I guess. I don't know. I don't know.
MR. OWENS: Did you do your best to please him?
SARAH BOONE: And then some, yes.
MR. OWENS: All right. I'd like to introduce into evidence Identification V.
THE COURT: What was premarked as V will be received into evidence without objection as Defense 9.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 9 was received in evidence.)
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: Now, Ms. Boone, were you treated for this or did you self-treat?
Well, let me -- I'm showing the jury now, but...
SARAH BOONE: No. That was just -- I got the first aid kit that I had for my son and I just cleaned it up.
MR. OWENS: You what?
SARAH BOONE: I said I got the first aid kit that I had for my son and I just cleaned it up and put a Band-Aid on it.
MR. OWENS: All right. I'm showing you Identification W, Defense Identification. Do you recognize that photograph?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: What is that a photograph of?
SARAH BOONE: This is a photograph of my arm.
MR. OWENS: And is that a fair and accurate depiction of the arm with some type of injury?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Do you remember this event?
SARAH BOONE: Multiple times, yes.
MR. OWENS: Well, I'm talking about this isolated event. Where this photograph was taken, the injury you sustained --
SARAH BOONE: Yeah, I do.
MR. OWENS: -- who injured your arm?
SARAH BOONE: Jorge Torres.
MR. OWENS: Do you remember this event?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Could you tell the jury about it?
SARAH BOONE: This was one of the instances where I would try to pull away from him. And I don't know how my arm started to do this, but from him -- him pulling from this way, how hard he would pull, with me trying to struggle to get away from him, it -- it would leave these bloody under-the-skin splotches.
MR. OWENS: So he wouldn't hit you, sometimes he would just grab you and pull you?
SARAH BOONE: Yes. From me trying to pull away from him, that's the point of it doing this (indicating), from me pulling away from him.
MR. OWENS: Now, this is one of the many times you-all were both intoxicated?
SARAH BOONE: I mean, I can't say for sure that -- yes, but whenever it would happen, yes, he would be drinking.
MR. OWENS: Identification W into evidence.
THE COURT: What was premarked as W will be received into evidence without objection as Defense Exhibit 10.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 10 was received in evidence.)
MR. OWENS: Can I publish, Judge?
THE COURT: You may, sir.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: All right. It doesn't look like a -- like a wound or anything.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MR. OWENS: I'm sorry.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: Tell me, you said it's just from the grip -- him losing his grip?
SARAH BOONE: Yes. It would be from me pulling away from him, and whatever under the skin it was, that it was disturbed from the amount of pressure of him holding and then pulling from me would create those on my arms.
MR. OWENS: Okay. I'm going to show you Defense Exhibit X for identification.
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: And what is that a picture of?
SARAH BOONE: This is a picture of my ear, side of my head.
MR. OWENS: Is that a fair and accurate depiction --
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: -- of the injury you sustained by Jorge Torres?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Do you remember this event?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Were you drinking?
SARAH BOONE: I at the time was not drinking, no.
MR. OWENS: On this event, you had not consumed any alcohol?
SARAH BOONE: I mean, I may have earlier. This was another I was in the bed trying to sleep.
MR. OWENS: Where was Jorge?
SARAH BOONE: Downstairs drinking.
MR. OWENS: All right. And so you were wanting to go to bed and he wanted you to stay down there with him?
SARAH BOONE: Yes. I was in the bed.
MR. OWENS: All right. Tell the jury what happened on this event.
SARAH BOONE: I believe this was the instant [sic] where I was in the bed and he -- I used to barricade the door with our dresser.
MR. OWENS: Why didn't you just lock it?
SARAH BOONE: All of the locks were broken in my home. They were --
MR. OWENS: Why?
SARAH BOONE: From Jorge kicking them in, including my son's. At one point I could seek refuge in my son's room, but he broke that one as well.
MR. OWENS: Tell me -- explain how that happens. Tell the jury. We can't read your mind.
SARAH BOONE: Jorge wants me -- which he has told me numerous times, that I'm to be with him at all times and doesn't like to be apart from me or away from me. So whenever it was even just to go to the bathroom, sometimes I -- he would go with me. And you have to understand, I have a two-story, 900 square foot townhome, so there's not many places to go, so it just happened to be that it would be upstairs or downstairs or I'd be in a particular room or not. So, inevitably --
MR. OWENS: Did you want some time away?
SARAH BOONE: Yes, I did, even if it were just him upstairs or me downstairs or vice versa. So I rarely got to sleep. This was one of the instances -- because I had barricaded the door with our, I don't know, 200-pound dresser that we had and then I had my nightstand barricaded up against that up against the bed to where it was even more difficult from the prior times of him breaking in, and he would -- I don't know how he would ever do it, but he would get himself in through the -- the crack of the door; that he would be able to wedge in, wedge the dresser and the nightstand. And he pulled me out of the bed and told me I was going to die, and it's -- I believe it's this incident, and then -- and punched me and --
MR. OWENS: Punched you in the side of the head?
SARAH BOONE: Yes, in my temple and everything.
MR. OWENS: Was it an open fist or a closed fist or do you know?
SARAH BOONE: It was fully closed.
MR. OWENS: I'd like Identification X introduced into evidence.
THE COURT: What was premarked as X will be received without objection as Defense Exhibit 11.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 11 was received in evidence.)
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: All right. I'm showing you this exhibit. That's you?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Did you get any treatment for that, medical treatment?
SARAH BOONE: I know the police came, but I don't remember -- I remember it hurt for a good solid two weeks after that.
MR. OWENS: Was this one of the incidents where the police were called?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Now, do you recognize this photograph, which is Identification Y?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Was that the date of the incident, the date of this event?
SARAH BOONE: No. It happened prior. I mean, but this picture that was taken of the --
MR. OWENS: This picture was taken -- would have been taken February 24th of 2020?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: And do you recognize that as your face, close-up facial shot?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Is that a fair and accurate depiction of how your face looked on February 23rd of 2020?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: What's the significance of this picture?
SARAH BOONE: Again, because I was sleeping, Jorge was upset with me and came in with a metal curtain rod and bent it and snapped it in half and then crunched me in the forehead with it and then started to beat the furniture that was in the -- in the bedroom. This is probably a good month before -- or after it had happened. Before -- I really do believe that I should have gotten stitches, but I was not allowed to go to the hospital.
MR. OWENS: Judge, I'd like Identification Y introduced into evidence.
SARAH BOONE: It was a gash.
THE COURT: What was premarked as Y will be received into evidence without objection as Defense 12.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 12 was received in evidence.)
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: Is that the same curtain rod that you mention in the two-hour interrogation video?
SARAH BOONE: Which they didn't take, yes.
MR. OWENS: All right. And this was photographs that were taken the -- I guess it would have been the crime scene -- was it the crime scene investigator that came out and took photographs?
SARAH BOONE: I don't remember who it was, but, yes, someone did on the day of the incident.
MR. OWENS: Was it different from the -- the extraction, the phone extraction expert? Was it somebody different?
SARAH BOONE: IT think.
MR. OWENS: Okay. But this -- is it this -- is it this wound right here?
SARAH BOONE: Yes. And, remember, that's a month later.
MR. OWENS: And then on that same date, they took -- same time, they took this photograph as well, which is Identification R?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: All right. And what does that depict?
SARAH BOONE: I believe it's from holding the baseball bat and --
MR. OWENS: Is that an injury to your hand?
SARAH BOONE: It's a bruise.
MR. OWENS: All right. Was that taken February -- was it February 23rd, 2020, when the investigators came out when --
SARAH BOONE: February 24th, I believe.
MR. OWENS: February 24th?
MR. OWENS: And I'd like to introduce Identification R into evidence.
THE COURT: All right. What was premarked as Defense R will be received into evidence without objection as Defense 13.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 13 was received in evidence.)
MR. OWENS: Judge, can I publish?
THE COURT: Yes, sir.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: All right. This is not a great photograph, it's a copy of a copy, but February 24th of 2020, is that what you were wearing? Is that you?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: Okay. And there's some discoloration up here of your palm. Do you see that?
SARAH BOONE: I do.
MR. OWENS: Is that from you jabbing him with a baseball bat?
THE COURT: Sustained.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: Do you know how you suffered that injury?
SARAH BOONE: I believe it's from holding the baseball bat.
MR. OWENS: When you poked him with it?
SARAH BOONE: Yes, trying to get his hand back in.
MR. OWENS: I'm showing you Defense Identification N. It looks like five photographs. Can you look at those? See if you recognize them.
SARAH BOONE: This is a duplicate.
MR. OWENS: All right. Well, it's in now.
SARAH BOONE: Okay.
MR. OWENS: So...
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: And are those fair and accurate depictions --
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: -- aS a composite of the events that occurred in relation to Jorge Torres and your TV?
SARAH BOONE: Yes, yes.
MR. OWENS: All right. Are those stills of a videotape that you took?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: And is that videotape, was it on your phone?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: So when law enforcement seized the phone, they would have had access to this video?
SARAH BOONE: I believe so, yes.
MR. OWENS: And tell me about it.
SARAH BOONE: Lucas likes to watch cartoons and play video games on the big screen, which is -- this is the big screen. And I would have to call Brian to come over sometimes to help me figure out the Fire Stick and whatever platform or whatever -- whatever it was that Lucas was trying to view his shows and video games on. And I don't remember how. Jorge found out that Brian had come over, I believe because it was actually fixed and he knew that I didn't know how to do it. Found out that Brian had come over to fix it and --
MR. OWENS: Was he jealous of Brian?
SARAH BOONE: I don't know if he was jealous of Brian. I think that he had a fear that I somehow would go back to Brian, so I think -- by Brian helping me with things for Lucas, he just didn't want him to be interacting with me at all.
MR. OWENS: Okay. So Lucas wasn't over here this day, was he?
SARAH BOONE: No.
MR. OWENS: Brian wasn't over here this day?
SARAH BOONE: He may have been. I can't remember when he actually fixed the television for Lucas.
MR. OWENS: Okay. But you-all were drinking this day?
SARAH BOONE: I'm -- I know he was for a fact, yes.
MR. OWENS: Chances are you were?
SARAH BOONE: Probably so, yes. I would agree.
MR. OWENS: Okay. So how did it end up badly?
SARAH BOONE: He accused me of sucking Brian's dick and told me that he was going to break my face with the bat and that he was going to make me unrecognizable to my son with the bat and then told me that he's going to destroy my fucking television and then I was going to remove it from the apartment. And if I didn't, I was going to be, again, unrecognizable to my son.
MR. OWENS: So did he grab the bat?
SARAH BOONE: Absolutely. He already had had that in his hand and he told me that I had to videotape it.
MR. OWENS: Did you videotape it voluntarily?
SARAH BOONE: No.
MR. OWENS: All right. But there is a video, but I'm gonna go ahead and ask, Judge, if I can introduce this, Identification 0, these five photographs into evidence?
THE COURT: Was it O or N?
COURT CLERK: I have O being a composite with five photos.
MR. OWENS: That's it.
COURT CLERK: N I have as a single photo.
THE COURT: We're moving in O? Okay. All right. What was premarked as O will be received into evidence without objection as Defense 14.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 14 was received in evidence.)
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: All right. These are some stills from the video. This was Jorge that particular day holding the bat?
SARAH BOONE: Yes, telling me that I'm going to take the television out once he destroys it.
MR. OWENS: He wanted you to take the television out?
SARAH BOONE: That or I was gonna help him, but either way, I was taking a part in removing it.
MR. OWENS: And what is this a picture of?
SARAH BOONE: In the process of him destroying my television.
MR. OWENS: While you're videotaping?
SARAH BOONE: Correct.
MR. OWENS: Is that the result?
SARAH BOONE: No. After that, he ripped it off of the TV stand.
MR. OWENS: Did he later pass out?
SARAH BOONE: Yep, like he usually does.
MR. OWENS: What's he drinking there?
SARAH BOONE: I don't know. Vodka and something, I'm sure.
MR. OWENS: I'm showing you Identification N, see if you recognize that.
SARAH BOONE: It's my living room and the stairwell.
MR. OWENS: All right. And would those -- was that a photograph taken by crime scene?
SARAH BOONE: Correct.
MR. OWENS: Is that a fair and accurate depiction of your living room and stairwell?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: And I'd like to try to introduce this Identification 9 as an exhibit.
THE COURT: It's premarked as M, correct?
MR. OWENS: It's got N.
THE COURT: N? I apologize. What was premarked as N will be received into evidence without objection as Defendant's 15.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 15 was received in evidence.)
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: Okay. Tell us a little bit about this room.
SARAH BOONE: This is my living room. This wall that we have over here with the hearts, that's where we would display all of our artwork. We were in the process of taking it down to add more so he could continue to be entertained. The bookshelf over here is my son's bookshelf with all of his toys and little guns and musical instruments. He's got his little karaoke machine down here, his guitar. The stand right here with the red bucket on it, that was the television stand. And then my back porch area and then the dog bed here.
MR. OWENS: Okay. And then looks like in front of the bookshelf at the foot of the stairs is -- is that a doggy --
SARAH BOONE: It's a baby gate, but my dogs would wander upstairs sometimes and go to the bathroom sometimes when we couldn't get them out, so I would at nighttime or whenever we weren't home, make sure that they didn't go upstairs. And, plus, Penny was blind.
MR. OWENS: There's an allegation that you pushed Jorge down the stairs --
SARAH BOONE: Apparently.
MR. OWENS: -- or got him in the suitcase upstairs and pushed him down the stairs.
SARAH BOONE: Supposedly.
MR. OWENS: Did that occur?
SARAH BOONE: Absolutely not.
MR. OWENS: Is that bookshelf disturbed in any way?
SARAH BOONE: No, nor the plant next to it.
MR. OWENS: I'm showing you a composite, two photographs, Identification M. Would you look at those two and see if you recognize them?
SARAH BOONE: Yes. This is me sitting on the back porch with my dogs and, as you can see, that we are both drinking.
MR. OWENS: All right. Who's taking the picture?
SARAH BOONE: I'm guessing Jorge is or maybe it's one that Lucas -- no, Lucas wasn't over here, so it had to be Jorge.
MR. OWENS: How can you tell you-all are drinking?
SARAH BOONE: Because there's a cup here and then he has a beer.
MR. OWENS: All right. And there's two dogs. There's one sitting next to you. Who's that?
SARAH BOONE: That's Penny. She's the blind dog. I used to have to pick her up to put her somewhere so she would stay there, because she was unfamiliar with the area, especially since we moved from my marital home to the townhome. So most of the time, Penny would be close or next to me.
MR. OWENS: Who's next to the fence?
SARAH BOONE: This is little guarddog Tess. She was the deaf dog. And this is the fence here.
MR. OWENS: Well, I'll show them in a minute.
SARAH BOONE: Okay. But this is Tess and then this is -- deaf, blind, Penny and Tess.
MR. OWENS: All right. And then the second one?
SARAH BOONE: This is Tess on the back porch taking a nap. She was never far from me.
MR. OWENS: All right. When Jorge was sober, how did he treat the dogs?
SARAH BOONE: Nice. I don't know if he was a pet person, but, I mean, he was -- he was nice. If I needed him to feed them, he would feed them.
MR. OWENS: Were there times when Jorge was drinking where he would threaten to harm the dogs?
SARAH BOONE: All the time.
MR. OWENS: All right. Well, you're going to have to tell the jury specifically.
SARAH BOONE: One of the worst -- one of the worst threats was Penny being blind. He would actually leave the gate open in the back. He wouldn't threaten me to do it, he would actually do it on nights that I had to go up to sleep or some -- I fled the night before or something, and would tell me that he hoped that I would come back and find her bloated body dead in the pond across the way from our townhome. And Tess was notorious, if I wasn't there, to go look for me. And would say that he would hope that I would have to scrape up her dead body from the street that was out in front of our apartment complex.
MR. OWENS: Why was Jorge upset with you? Why would he threaten to harm the dogs?
SARAH BOONE: Anything that he could get to try to have some type of hold over me.
MR. OWENS: Control?
SARAH BOONE: And he knew I loved my dogs very much, especially that they were handicapped.
MR. OWENS: Were they afraid of him?
SARAH BOONE: Yes. Penny would hear his voice and instantly go underneath the dining room table that we had. Tess was always fractious and very -- very quick with his movements, but she was never -- never far away. They never showed their teeth. They never growled. Tess would occasionally bark, but it was very rare. And he used to kick them and just...
MR. OWENS: For what reason would he kick them?
SARAH BOONE: Penny would try to find me because she's -- she's blind --
THE COURT: Sustained.
MR. OWENS: I'd like to move Identification M into evidence.
THE COURT: Any objection?
THE COURT: What was premarked as M will be received into evidence without objection as Defense 16.
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 16 was received in evidence.)
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: All right. Can you describe this for the jury?
SARAH BOONE: This is -- again, it's our back porch and this is the fence that I made for the dogs to have a little bit extra space. Penny is next to me. She's the blind dog. And then Tess is down here guarding the gate.
MR. OWENS: All right. Are these fake rabbits?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: And here?
SARAH BOONE: IT used to call my son, when he was a baby, he was my bunny rabbit.
THE COURT: Overruled.
SARAH BOONE: He was my bunny rabbit, so I used to collect bunnies, bunny rabbits, and so I have rabbits here and there throughout my house and in my little garden area.
BY MR. OWENS:
MR. OWENS: All right. And this is the alcohol you-all are consuming?
SARAH BOONE: Yes.
MR. OWENS: And this is a closeup of which one?
SARAH BOONE: This is Tess. She's the deaf dog.
MR. OWENS: How old were these dogs at that time, 2020?
SARAH BOONE: Gosh. Maybe 9, maybe 10.
MR. OWENS: Can we approach?
THE COURT: Yes.