Blame shifted to Juanita Rothschild in Sonoma Valley murder trial

The question is not whether Steven Rothschild killed his wife, Nita Rothschild, on Aug. 4 of last year. The question, according to the accused murderer's defense, is whether his actions were a violent response to years of emotional abuse.

The case, which went to trial in Sonoma County Superior Court this week, stems from Aug. 4, 2017, when Steven Rothschild called 911 to report he may have killed his wife of 36 years. She was found bloodied, bruised and non-responsive on their living room couch in their Boyes Hot Springs house when deputies arrived.

According to defense attorney Steve Gallenson, Steven Rothschild had been emotionally abused by his wife for years.

'Nita isolated him. He had friends he had to give up. She made him quit golf,' Gallenson told the Index-Tribune on Wednesday. 'Steve was constantly criticized by his wife and required to write endless notes of apology telling her how wonderful she was and how lucky he was to have her.'

In opening statements on Tuesday, Gallenson told the jury that he will be presenting more than 200 pages of notes and letters to support the claims of emotional abuse.

Among the witnesses Gallenson will call to the stand include an expert in domestic violence who has examined Steven Rothschild; a marriage counselor who was seeing the couple; and a neuropsychologist who conducted a series of tests on Rothschild.

Gallenson contends that the emotional abuse over a period of years had created a type of post-traumatic stress disorder in Rothschild.

'Our expert believes this (violence) was an extreme fear response to something that was coming,' said Gallenson. 'It's like the rubber band stretches and stretches and stretches and snaps.'

After opening arguments on Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney Javier Vaca called his first witness, Carolyn Kohler who, with her husband, attended a Diana Krall concert at the Green Music Center with the Rothschilds the night of Nita's death. They were the last people to see Nita alive and testified that nothing seemed to be amiss with the Rothschilds that night.

Two Sonoma County Sheriff dispatchers then took the stand and the prosecution played the 911 call they received from Steve Rothschild at 11:43 a.m. on Aug. 4. The couple's dog could be heard barking in the background as he requested a deputy to his home. He told the dispatcher that he and his wife had been in a fight and she was dead.

On Wednesday, the prosecution moved briskly through seven witnesses. Sonoma police officer and Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff Timothy Salyers was the first officer to the scene, arriving, he estimated, within two minutes of being dispatched. Deputy Matthias Williams arrived a minute later.

As part of protocol to secure the scene, Williams immediately placed Steve Rothschild in handcuffs.

'I asked him, 'What's going on,'' recounted Williams. To which, he testified, Rothschild replied, 'She's dead. We got in a fight. I got angry. I think I killed her.'

Upon entering the house, Nita was still warm but 'did not appear to be moving or breathing,' according to Salyers. Her face and neck were bloodied and bruised and she was slumped on a tan leather reclining sofa.

Paramedic Nathan Sussex testified about his series of attempts to resuscitate Nita, before declaring her dead at 12:04 a.m.

The lead detective on the case, Detective Jesse Hanshew presented a series of photos taken in the hours after the crime, and again the following day, that showed dramatic bruising and swelling on Steven Rothschild's hands and wrists. Detective Dylan Fong then presented a series of graphic photos from Nita's autopsy showing evidence of strangulation.

Witness Harriet Wood was a friend of the victim for 45 years, through several decades working together at AAA of California. She testified about the time they spent together both before and after the Rothschilds married.

She recounted that the couple met through work, and married about 18 months later in a small civil ceremony. After several years in San Francisco, they began a series of moves, to Concord, Reno, Truckee and two different towns in Washington, before finally settling in Sonoma in 2014.

Wood testified that she never saw the couple argue.

Rothschild sat quietly through the first days of the trial, dressed in a gray suit, button-down shirt and wire-rimmed glasses. He continues to be held on $2 million bail at Santa Rosa's Main Adult Detention Facility during the trial. He is expected to take the stand when the defense presents its case.

Six of Nita Rothschild's friends sat through the first days of the trial.

They agreed they were 'aghast' at the defense's proposition that their friend was responsible for her husband's violence.

The friends, some driving from as far as Truckee, said they plan to attend the rest of the trial to show their support for Nita.

'It was so, so hard to believe that Steve killed her when it happened,' said one woman, who had socialized with the couple frequently. 'But it is impossible for us to believe she drove him to do it.'

The trial continues through the month before Judge Dana Simonds' at the Santa Rosa Hall of Justice.

Email lorna.sheridan@sonomanews.com.