×
×
homepage logo
LOGIN
SUBSCRIBE

Ex-Sen. Woodburn makes new claims in last day of domestic violence trial

By Nancy West - InDepthNH | May 13, 2021

Jeffrey Woodburn is pictured with his attorney Donna Brown during a motions hearing Wednesday in Coos County Superior Court in Lancaster. While most of Woodburn's jury trial was in an adjacent courtroom closed to the public and press, Judge Peter Bornstein, pictured, held a brief motions hearing in the smaller room with the public and press present. (Photo by NANCY WEST)

LANCASTER – Former state senator Jeffrey Woodburn took the witness stand again Wednesday in his domestic violence trial detailing for the first time incidents in which he claims his former fiancée Emily Jacobs used physical violence against him.

Woodburn, 55, is accused of nine misdemeanor charges against Jacobs alleging he hit her in the stomach with his fist and taunted her.

The charges also claim Woodburn bit Jacobs once on the arm and another time on her hand, threw a cup of water at her face, broke her dryer door and a door at her Jefferson residence over a period of time from December of 2017 to June of 2018.

Woodburn recounted one night being awakened to hear someone coming up the stairs to his bedroom and discovered it was Jacobs and she was angry.

He sat up in bed to find Jacobs repeatedly hitting him in the chest with both hands, Woodburn testified.

“She was hitting me multiple times,” Woodburn said. “It was repeated hitting. It was multiple times. She was angry.”

It wasn’t the only time Jacobs hit him, Woodburn testified, saying in late afternoon testimony Tuesday that no one ever hit him harder than Jacobs’ “body slams.”

Jacobs has not been charged with any crime and has denied engaging in any violence against Woodburn.

Woodburn threatened to call 911 that night but decided that wasn’t an option for him.

Both were rising stars in the Democratic party at the time. He was a sitting state senator from Whitefield who aspired to be governor. Jacobs, a social worker with two master’s degrees, was chairman of the Coos County Democratic Committee, candidate for county treasurer and a delegate for Bernie Sanders.

Woodburn and Jacobs both lost their respective elections after his Aug. 2, 2018 arrest.

In her testimony Monday and part of Tuesday, Jacobs said she was the victim of Woodburn who made her feel like all of their problems were because of her and it was up to her to fix them.

She described Woodburn – often tearfully – as a controlling older man who physically hurt her and damaged her property during violent outbursts that frightened her.

Jacobs testified that after one argument, Woodburn said he wanted to have his kids stay overnight the next night. “I said that wasn’t going to happen,” Jacobs testified.

She said Woodburn had been drinking and when he was leaving, grabbed food from her refrigerator, including her children’s snacks.

“I said those aren’t yours and he hit me in the stomach with his fist…It didn’t hurt too bad. It didn’t hurt like when he bit me,” Jacobs testified.

Jacobs said Woodburn then taunted her: “Oh, did I hurt you Em, are you hurt? He was just like mocking me.”

Woodburn denied hitting Jacobs in the stomach.

Woodburn made clear under direct examination by his attorney Donna Brown that he never used his full strength to stop Jacobs.

He admitted biting her one night in a car when he was trying to wrestle his cell phone away from her.

Woodburn said several times that he knew he was wrong and was ashamed of his behavior. But he also denied hitting Jacobs in the stomach and said he threw water in her face one night, but didn’t throw the cup at her as charged and couldn’t recall the second biting incident.

Woodburn admitted kicking the door off Jacobs’ dryer and damaging a door to her home.

Under cross examination, Senior Assistant Attorney General Geoffrey Ward questioned Woodburn about his height and weight and asked him to stand for the jury and show them his hands, which he did.

Woodburn said he is 6 foot 2 and weighs 215 pounds, acknowledging he weighed more during part of the time he was with Jacobs.

Before testimony began Wednesday, Judge Peter Bornstein held a hearing outside the view of jurors to address a motion from Brown.

Brown complained that Ward’s objections were incorrect and having the effect of keeping information about Jacobs’ alleged violence from the jury and denying Woodburn a fair trial.

“She’s very strong. She’s hit him before. He knows she’s volatile,” Brown said of Jacobs.

Brown and Ward clashed a number of times during the three-day trial over what the jury should hear about Jacobs.

Bornstein denied Brown’s motion, but her line of questioning later in the day elicited testimony claiming that Jacobs is strong and sometimes hit Woodburn.

When discussing the incident in which he broke the dryer door, Woodburn said it was after she threw his wet laundry on the lawn during an argument.

“It’s so embarrassing. I was so ashamed,” Woodburn said reading from a journal he kept. It went on to say he was then 52 and “I need to grow up.”

He wrote that Jacobs is a good person but also intense and sometimes controlling.

Ward called Woodburn on his testimony that he was the logical one in the relationship and Jacobs the emotional one.

Throwing water in Jacobs’ face, kicking her dryer, grabbing the steering wheel when she was driving and other incidents showed he wasn’t rational, Ward said.

“I’m ashamed of that,” Woodburn said. “I am ashamed of that.”

Brown called Dr. Paul Donahue of Littleton as the defense’s only witness.

Donahue turned in his license to practice to the Board of Mental Health in March based on a complaint Jacobs filed claiming he put her in danger with disclosures he made about her to Woodburn.

Donahue counselled Jacobs and Woodburn as a couple and individually.

Although he turned in his license, Donahue said he disputes the allegations against him, but said it was the best way to deal with the situation.

Brown asked Donahue, “Did she say she would take care of Jeff?”

Donahue answered: “Yes… In my mind that was a threat.”

Jacobs’ complaint was the only one against him in 40 years, Donahue said.

The trial was held in a room closed to the press and public in Coos County Superior Court.

The press and public could view the trial on a small screen with the testimony live streamed in an adjacent room and in another room in Grafton County Superior Court.

Woodburn’s is the first jury trial in the courthouse since the pandemic.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday morning and the jury will then begin deliberating.

Newsletter

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

Interests
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *