Suspect's wife testifies

COEUR d'ALENE - Jurors on Monday in the trial of Robert "Bob" Critchfield were introduced to his wife of 14 years.

Bob Critchfield, 35, is being tried in Kootenai County District Court on multiple felony counts of lewd conduct with a minor and sexual abuse of a child, stemming from alleged acts in 2007 and 2008, when he was living in Coeur d'Alene Place.

He was arrested in June 2008, and has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Angie Critchfield, who has known her husband more than half his life, seemed to capture the attention of the jurors after more than 20 other defense witnesses had been called forth since early Friday, including neighbors, neighborhood kids and others who either new Bob Critchfield well or the alleged victims.

The couple are still together, and Angie Critchfield has been at the trial daily supporting her husband.

The defense witnesses so far have either testified to Bob Critchfield's character or were called on to counter testimony from the alleged victims, or discuss their character.

Two former police officers, one from Las Vegas and one from San Diego, have testified as friends and neighbors of Bob Critchfield.

One described him as "a nice man," who was "very tolerant" of the kids at his home so frequently. The other described him as a "caring" and "compassionate" person. They said they never observed anything improper with him.

There are nine alleged victims in the case - all girls around 11 to 13 years old when the incidents were alleged to have occurred.

Testimony has been that alleged sexual abuse and lewd conduct took place at or near the Critchfield residence.

It appears the defense will use Angie Critchfield to show that she had a firm grasp of who was coming and going in her home and what happened there.

She described the family home as a smaller one with three bedrooms and 1,200 square feet of floor space.

"If someone sneezed in the bedroom, you could hear it in the living room," she said.

The prosecution's witnesses showed that Angie Critchfield was gone during the day when the alleged conduct occurred.

She said she spent more than 30 hours per week, or four or five days a week, on the job in 2007 and 2008. She said she's a pharmacy technician at an area supermarket.

She said she knew all the alleged victims and many other kids who regularly visited their home.

Angie Critchfield's testimony began late Monday with her describing some details about their lives together, their children, ages 14 and 9, and the home they shared.

Defense attorney James Siebe, in his questioning, sought to show that kids in the neighborhood, and the alleged victims, returned to the Critchfields' residence again and again.

Siebe asked why the girls and other kids were allowed to visit the Critchfield residence so often, despite the disruption to her family's life.

"I felt sorry for (some) kids in our neighborhood," she said.

Many neighborhood parents were gone frequently and the kids were often left alone, she said.

She got along with the girls "all right," she said, but added that there were "issues" with the girls' behavior at times, and they had to be told they weren't welcome back.

"We had rules in our house that we'd remind them of," she said.

But it wasn't long and they'd return to the home, she said.

Her testimony is to continue today at the Kootenai County Courthouse. Bob Critchfield also is expected to testify before the closing arguments are presented this week.

With each count of lewd conduct, Bob Critchfield is facing a sentence of up to life imprisonment if found guilty. Each sexual abuse count carries a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.