| US: Gundersen's wife spends day 4 on stand
Found: Tue Aug 26 01:32:51 2008 PDT
Source: Times-Standard (Eureka, CA)
Copyright: 2008 MediaNews Group, Inc.
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Gundersen's wife spends day 4 on stand Gundersen's wife spends day 4 on stand - Times-Standard Online
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The wife of former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen testified Monday that when she lied to investigators the day of her husband's arrest, she felt they were just holding another "Dave-bashing party."
"It's not the first time everyone sat around bashing Dave," Gundersen's wife, Darcie Seal, testified about the Feb. 8 interview with investigators. She referred to them as friends of Gundersen's ex-wife and said she answered their questions sarcastically and never wanted her husband arrested.
"I didn't think it was serious," Seal said.
Seal has requested the court and the Times-Standard use her name rather than the Jane Doe designation usually used for alleged sexual assault victims.
Gundersen faces two dozen counts of raping Seal while she was under the influence of an intoxicant, as well as charges of violating a court order, attempting to dissuade the victim of a crime and illegally possessing a submachine gun and a pistol with an attached silencer.
He has pleaded not guilty and remains held in the Humboldt County jail on $1.25 million bail.
Taking the stand for the fourth day, Seal's testimony ranged from her contact with Gundersen since his arrest to why her story has changed dramatically from her testimony during Gundersen's preliminary hearing.
With Gundersen's attorney Russell Clanton continuing his cross examination, Seal testified that she didn't fear her husband before her Feb. 8
interview with investigators, but that they convinced her Gundersen was homicidal and suicidal.
Seal said she also told members of the District Attorney's Office that her Feb. 8 statements to law enforcement were false, and that she had even written District Attorney Paul Gallegos a letter on Feb. 25 saying as much.
Seal later read the letter before the court. It said she had been coerced by investigators, didn't want to file a criminal complaint and didn't fear her husband.
Seal also testified that she had taken two doses of Klonopin -- an anti-anxiety medication -- before the Feb. 8 interview and that the drug relaxes her and puts her in a "kind of dreamy state."
Gallegos and Clanton questioned Seal about three medications she takes -- Klonopin, Prozac and Lunesta -- that she said were prescribed to her by a cosmetic surgeon.
Seal testified that Lunesta -- a sleeping aid -- only has a light effect on her and that she consequently stopped using the drug, only taking it about 12 times in 2007.
William Kelly, a Florida-based expert witness in the field of pharmacology, agreed that Lunesta is generally considered a light sleeping aid, but cautioned the drug could have a different effect if taken with Klonopin. Without knowing the exact doses Seal was taking, nor the exact times she ingested the medications, Kelly said it would be impossible to determine the exact effects.
William Simonson, another expert witness in the field of pharmacology who also does some independent consultant work, said he couldn't comment on the specifics of the Gundersen case, but also warned that drugs taken in combination can have varying effects.
"Drug interactions are highly variable and difficult to predict," Simonson said. "One combination of medications in one individual may have no adverse effect, while the same combination in another individual may have a dramatic effect. The concept of drug interactions is a real one."
Simonson said the precise impacts of drug interactions is especially difficult to pinpoint when talking about psychoactive drugs, like Klonopin, Lunesta and Prozac.
Seal also testified Monday that many things she said at Gundersen's preliminary hearing were untrue. She said investigators had convinced her that, if she had taken Lunesta and had sex with Gundersen, it was rape.
Seal also testified that she tried to tell her attorney, Michael Crowley, before the preliminary hearing that she had lied to investigators. Seal said Crowley yelled at her and told her to testify in line with what she had told investigators, which she did.
"How did you feel when you did that?" Clanton asked her.
"I can't describe it," Seal answered.
"Can you try?" Clanton asked.
"Defeated -- I felt a lot of things," Seal said.
Seal again testified that she felt she had been coerced and threatened by investigators in the case, echoing statements she made in a complaint she sent last month to the Humboldt County Grand Jury, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Attorney General's Office alleging civil rights violations, police coercion, false imprisonment and conspiracy.
Abraham Arredondo, deputy press secretary in the Attorney General's Office, said the office has received the complaint and it is currently "under review."
After initially filing for a divorce in May, citing irreconcilable differences, Seal rescinded those filings earlier this month. Because of that and the fact that Seal has recanted her earlier accusations against her husband and -- mirroring a trend in many domestic abuse cases -- Clanton directly asked Seal if she'd been trained as a law enforcement officer on the psychology of victims of domestic abuse and she said she had been.
"Do you have an opinion about whether or not you are a victim of domestic abuse?" Clanton asked.
"Yes -- I am not," Seal testified.
Clanton then asked if her testimony Monday was the result of some kind of psychological problem or pressure.
"No," Seal answered. "I'm as clear as I can get today."
Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or tgreenson@times-standard.com
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