DA Jeffrey Thomas trial accuser: 'I don't know how he knew anything about me.'

One half of the defense team, Eric Jackson Lurie, began his cross-examination Friday of the accuser of sexual and physical assault by suspended Somerset District Attorney Jeffrey Thomas in her home on Sept. 18, 2021.

His questions began softly, easy appearing to provide some calm and comfort to an obviously uncomfortable but determined woman in the third day she sat in the witness stand at the trial of Thomas. At the end of the day Friday she appeared exhausted. On Monday, the questions asked the accuser ended before noon.

Thomas is on trial with the charges of sexual assault, indecent aggravated assault, indecent assault, strangulation, simple assault and criminal trespass. The trial is scheduled to run through this week.

Both the defense and the prosecution are in search of the truth of the event that traumatized the accuser and helped to put an abrupt stop to the political career of a first-time district attorney in a conservative and rural county of Pennsylvania.

Before:Defense begins cross examination of accuser in DA Jeff Thomas trial

The case has had many twists and turns on its way to a trial. By the end of this week, the outcome will be determined by 12 jurors, all who appear to be attentive over the eight to nine hours a day of testimony, some writing in the small notepads they often grasp in their hands when they leave for breaks. Jurors are allowed to take notes in Pennsylvania if the trial runs more than two days, but must leave their notes in a secure place in the courthouse once they leave for the day.

The woman testified until that eventful night, the other two times that Thomas showed up at her home, she was not alone. She did not know how he knew where she lived.

"I don't know how he knew anything about me," she said.

Because she was not alone the first two times, she testified, "I was never scared up to that evening."

She saw Thomas at a local restaurant on several occasions.

"At no time had he ever threatened you?" Lurie asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"At no time did he inappropriately touch you?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Is it possible you engaged him in showing photos on your phone?"

"Yes."

The woman recalled that Thomas gave her a baseball cap adorned by the name of his office and that she wore it in a couple of the photos she used in "My story" on Snapchat for her friends to see. She testified that she remembered sending only words to Thomas through Snapchat, but it is possible she sent a photo. She just did not remember.

More:Last motions hearing in the suspended DA Jeffrey Thomas case held, trial begins

Lurie went over her earlier testimony when she said she was uncomfortable and hesitant to go to the police after the alleged sexual and physical assault because of his position as district attorney in the county and the authority that comes with that position. He then brought up her comment about Thomas that "I don't see you as an attorney, just as Jeff. I just see you as a human being."

When Lurie asked her if she screamed during the attack, she responded that she was on her stomach with his weight on her body. She was finding it hard to breathe.

"My main goal was breathing," she said. If she screamed she felt she would be taking up too much air and she would black out.

"I didn't scream because I was trying to preserve my air," she told Lurie.

At one point, Thomas asked her, "Why are you fighting me? Are you OK?" She testified that her response was, "I need you go get out of my house. I am not OK."

"I was doing what I could to escape. That was my main focus," she said. "I wasn't able to breathe. I didn't have full mobility of my arms and legs."

When asked several times by Lurie if she remembered what hand Thomas used around her neck to choke her, she responded that she did not know which hand he used. "I was focused on surviving and breathing."

Starting:Jury selection for DA Jeffrey Thomas' sexual assault trial goes to a second day

She was able to finally break free, grabbed a blanket from the couch to cover herself and ran up the stairs to her daughter's room. She checked on her 8-year-old and then sat in front of her daughter's door and covered herself with the blanket. She heard only silence, so she went back down the stairs to get to her phone that was in the living room. But from the stairs she spotted Thomas on the couch.

She claimed that the next physical encounter with Thomas was when he grabbed her hair and once again put his hand around her neck and asked if she was going to call the police for a second time.

When she first came into the room for her phone, he asked her if she was going to call the police.

"Why was everything you just did warrant me calling the police?" she testified she responded.

That was when he grabbed her hair and her throat and asked for the second time if she was going to contact the police. She said that she told him no if he would leave.

"Did he leave?" Lurie asked.

"Immediately," the woman answered.

Then she said she texted her boyfriend and told him that she missed him.

"I could barely make it in the shower. I was crying. My arms weren't working. I went downstairs and sat for the rest of the night," she testified.

When Lurie asked her if at any time that night she thought about calling the police, she said she was "terrified. Everything was so vital. My daughter being OK," she said.

Her mindset was to protect her daughter, she said.

"There's a monster in my house and an 8-year-old upstairs. Nothing is safe," she testified.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Defense for Somerset DA Jeffrey Thomas questions his accuser