Jealous aggressor or political victim? Two versions of Jose Castañeda presented at trial.

Deputy District Attorney Elaine McCleaf laid out a straightforward case to the jury in a Salinas courtroom Thursday morning.

Jose Castañeda was a jealous man who couldn’t accept that the relationship with his girlfriend had come to an end, she said. That jealousy drove him to stalk, kidnap and assault her inside a van on the night of Sept. 4 and Sept. 5, 2015. 

Castañeda’s defense attorney, James Segall-Gutierrez, countered this was no "run-of-the-mill battery case." To look at it that way would be an affront to the law "and to humanity."

He painted Castañeda, a former Salinas City Council member, not as an aggressor but as a victim of powerful political and agricultural industry interests seeking to eliminate him as a politician who dared to stand up for the rights of workers and the poor.

Quoting Mark Twain (“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes”) and name-dropping civil rights activist Cesar Chavez once jailed in Salinas, Segall-Gutierrez also implied that dark “government” forces were attempting to oppress Castañeda. 

The most dramatic moment of the day, the first day in Castañeda's trial, came in the afternoon when the alleged victim, identified only as Jane Doe in court, began crying as she described the alleged attack. Monterey County Superior Court Judge Carrie Panetta called a 15-minute recess to give her time to compose herself.

Jane Doe's testimony of the alleged incident included harrowing details of Castañeda showing up unannounced in the dark behind her as she tried to enter her house, then being pulled and dragged into a van parked out on the street.

Castañeda allegedly drove the van to another location where he struck her repeatedly, grabbed her breast and demanded her social media passwords to gain access using her phone, she said.

Eventually he offered to drive her home, but she refused, she said. She walked home with one shoe missing instead.

She did not report the incident to the police, but did share what happened with a friend, who was the first witness called to the stand Thursday morning.

The friend related that Jane Doe called her when Castañeda allegedly returned the following night, and could hear some of what was going on as Castañeda demanded to be let into the home. 

Jane Doe decided to contact Salinas Police about the two incidents on Monday, Sept. 7, Labor Day. 

Jane Doe remained composed under cross-examination by Segall-Gutierrez, who asked her why she waited until Monday to call the police.

Mary Duan contributed to this report.