From left, defendant Jason Sadowski, defense attorney Tony Ruiz, Marquette County Prosecutor Matt Wiese, and Undersheriff Dan Willey during the second day of the retrial of Sadowski. (Journal photo by Mary Wardell)

MARQUETTE — The second day of Jason Sadowski’s retrial began with the four-hour-long cross-examination of the alleged victim by the defense — at times bringing her to tears, other times exasperation — and ended with chaotic and garbled audio/video footage from a squad car responding to the early-morning scene.

Sadowski, 46, of Ishpeming, is being retried after his successful appeal of a 2014 conviction on charges of torture, unlawful imprisonment, solicitation of murder and assault by strangulation.

He is accused of duct taping two Ishpeming women to posts, holding them captive in the basement of his home and business, The Martial Way, and torturing them for about six hours after they allegedly stole a disputed amount of money from his wallet.

Defense attorney Tony Ruiz Wednesday morning questioned the victim at length about her past drug use, criminal history, prior homelessness, mental and physical health, relationship to the other victim and numerous details about what allegedly took place that night, highlighting inconsistencies in her testimony.

The victim, 34, was open about her drug addiction, which she said she had struggled with since she was a preteen, but that she has been clean for a number of months. In her initial examination Tuesday, she admitted to doing “all kinds of drugs, from speed to downers,” though mostly opiates.

She said at the time of the incident, she was prescribed Celexa and Welbutrin, antidepressants, as well as nuerotin, an anti-convulsant, for her epilepsy and as a mood stabilizer. She said she drank that night, but was not intoxicated.

He questioned her extensively about whether she smoked marijuana or admitted to smoking it to a police officer that morning. She denied it.

“There was weed smoked there, I didn’t smoke any weed,” she said. “I don’t hide my drug use. I don’t have any excuses for it, and I would not hide smoking weed, but I have not smoked weed since I was 18 years old.”

Ruiz produced documents showing she was on bond for an incident in Wisconsin at the time and wasn’t supposed to drink alcohol, though she said she didn’t remember that until he showed her the document. She said she wasn’t being tested for alcohol at that time.

Ruiz also brought up a 2007 Florida conviction against her for lying to an officer.

The victim said she had been driving without a license at the time and had given the officer the name of her brother’s girlfriend.

She said she was in a treatment program at the time of the incident by choice.

She denied doing heroin, methamphetamine or bath salts at that time, and said in addition to her prescriptions, she might have been doing opiates or Ritalin, but she couldn’t be sure.

Ruiz played a garbled piece of audio from her interview with police following the incident in which he claimed she said her throat felt “all right,” asking why that would be if she had been strangled.

“I know that it hurt pretty badly after — all the soft tissue was damaged and muscles,” she testified. “At that point, sir, I just wanted to go home. I didn’t want to go anywhere but home.”

During her testimony, the wind howled outside the Marquette County Circuit Court, and Sadowski alternatively listened unmoved to her answers, and flipped through documents, highlighting and furiously writing notes.

The questioning was scattered and winding with long pauses, as Ruiz collected documents, took notes and searched for audio clips.

Overall, he attempted to draw out inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony.

Those included how much alcohol she drank, how much money was stolen, which victim was hit first, what type of sword Sadowski allegedly used to threaten the other victim, why there wasn’t vomit on her clothing since she testified she vomited on herself, what time she arrived at Sadowski’s martial arts studio, how many times she was hit, and whether or not any “socializing” took place.

Marquette Police Department officer Ben Takala, a Negaunee police officer at the time who responded to the 2013 incident, testified that he arrived on the scene to see the now-deceased victim, upset, crying and hysterical with duct tape around her wrists and visible redness, swelling and injuries.

During cross examination, he agreed with Ruiz that in order to identify swelling, he would have to know what the victim looked like normally. He also acknowledged that digital photos of the victim presented by Ruiz and not used by the prosecution were clearer, lighter and depicted less redness.

Then Marquette County Prosecuting Attorney Matt Wiese called Ishpeming Police Department officer Jeremy Rae to the stand, who was one of the first officers on the scene.

Rae said when they arrived, they first spoke with Sadowski who emerged from the front door of the building. Rae described his manner as “casual.”

He said Sadowski replied in the affirmative to whether it was his building. They asked if there was a basement, and Rae said Sadowski replied “Yes, but it’s not mine,” and also said there was nobody in the basement. When asked if they could enter, Sadowski replied “not without a warrant,” Rae testified, to which police responded they didn’t need one.

In searching the building, they heard voices in the basement and entered, he said, acknowledging during cross-examination that no basement doors were locked.

“There was a female sitting on the ground, her hands tied around a pole,” Rae said. “There was also another female, who, as we entered the room came running towards us, … screaming and yelling, ‘You found us, you found us, you found us,’ over and over again.”

Rae said the woman on the floor was weeping.

The first portion of Rae’s dash cam footage was admitted as evidence after some dispute.

The video showed the street view of the incident and was connected to a microphone on Rae’s uniform. The audio was heavily garbled and chaotic, with screams, yelling, cursing and indecipherable utterances.

Ruiz had objected, saying it was hearsay, but Judge Jennifer Mazzuchi said the audio did not contain statements meant to establish the truth of what is alleged, but rather to show the chaotic nature of the scene.

Mazzuchi declined to admit the second half of the video, as Wiese had intended, which contained the initial interview between Rae and the victim.

Testimony continues today.

Mary Wardell can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248.