Sheena Brown thought she was going to die as she stood in a secluded area of an Estacada park late one rainy night last February, wearing nothing but her socks and facing her boyfriend and his .380-caliber pistol.



Joshua Ward had driven her and her friend to McIver Park on Feb. 26, the 32-year-old testified Wednesday in Clackamas County Circuit Court. Ward suspected she had been talking to an ex-boyfriend earlier, Brown said, and became angry after she hung up on him. He pistol-whipped her, then used a stun gun once he had her in the car, she testified.



Soon after they stopped in the park, and Ward told her to get out and "get rid of everything," Brown said. All she had was her clothes.



He pulled the trigger, she said, but the gun didn't fire. Ward made two more attempts, Brown said, racking the pistol between each try, to no avail. He later showed her and the friend the dented bullet that jammed the pistol and told her she was lucky.



The trio soon left the park and drove to a bar, where Brown later slipped a note to a bartender asking her to call police.



Brown detailed several instances of abuse during her nearly year-long relationship with Ward, including taking punches, being threatened with guns and being hit by his car. Brown said she refused to name Ward as her assailant to police in prior incidents because she loved him and didn't want him to go to jail. But she changed her mind after he again threatened her with a gun in February.



"It's because he pulled the trigger," she said.



A bench trial for Ward, 31, began Wednesday. He is accused of attempted murder, fourth-degree assault, menacing, coercion, unlawful use of a weapon, felon in possession of a firearm, delivery of methamphetamine, possession of meth and possession of cocaine in connection with the Feb. 26 incident.

According to Oregon court records, Ward has past convictions for fourth-degree assault and coercion from 2005 and three prior convictions for harassment, the most recent one in 2012.



Ward's knee bounced under the table where he sat with his attorney and two prosecutors throughout the morning portion of the trial. He held up court papers and looked through them as Brown detailed on the witness stand their relationship and the weeks leading up to the incident that led to his arrest. He appeared to listen intently as she recalled what happened on Feb. 26, fidgeting with a pen and shaking his head at times.



Defense attorney Maryann Meaney told Judge Thomas Rastetter that her client denied all the allegations against him when he was interviewed by police and that the only other people who saw what happened, Brown and Crystal Newman, aren't reliable witnesses.



Brown's statements to police are inconsistent with what prosecutors say happened, Meaney said. Police reports indicate Brown claimed she could barely see Ward in the park because it was so dark and that he pointed what she thought was a gun, but she wasn't sure if she ever heard a sound indicating he had pulled the trigger.



There's no proof the dented bullet exists, Meaney said.



Brown acknowledged on the witness stand that she has at least four convictions for meth possession, one as recently as 2015, and was convicted of identity theft in 2011. She also said she struggles with alcohol and methamphetamine use and that she last used the latter over the weekend.



"I don't think that the evidence in this case will rise to the level of attempted murder," Meaney said. "And I believe that the court will find that the alleged victims are not credible."



Clackamas County Deputy District Attorney Sarah Vogel said Ward exhibited violent, jealous and controlling behavior against Brown that can be verified by evidence including testimony from Brown, her mother and Newman as well as pictures of her injuries and voicemail messages left by Ward threatening her and her family.



A doctor who treated Brown in January for injuries that she said were caused by Ward and again after the February incident will also testify of his suspicions of her earlier wounds being caused by domestic violence.



"But she went back to him over and over again," Vogel said. "She went back because she hoped it would change, and she went back because she loved him. She also went back because she was afraid."



Brown testified that she met Ward through her cousin in March 2015 and they began dating soon after. She thought he was attractive, nice and could carry a conversation.



They were together all the time, she said. They lived together in hotel rooms, often played video poker and used and sold meth and marijuana.



Arguments happened often, according to Brown. He typically got upset over her drinking, that she may be communicating with an ex-boyfriend or perceived that she was embarrassing him at bars. Ward yelled at her several times, she said, and belittled her in front of people.



Brown said Ward hit her for the first time three months after they met, and that arguments would often turn physical during the course of their relationship. She described incidents in which Ward threatened her with his pistol, a rifle and a chain lock. She said he once choked and repeatedly punched her in the back seat of his car while they were parked at Johnson Creek Park and threatened to kill her, but stopped because people were nearby. Another altercation in January left her with a concussion, cracked ribs and bruises, she said.



At times, he made her feel like she deserved the abuse, she said.



"It was almost like he would blackout," Brown said. "Something would snap and he would start hitting me. Sometimes he wouldn't stop until he got tired."



On Feb. 26, the couple had been arguing after Ward learned Brown's ex-boyfriend had been calling her and leaving her voicemail messages. Brown and Newman went to Bo's Pub along McLoughlin Boulevard near Milwaukie for drinks, but she continued arguing with Ward via text messages.



At one point, Brown said, she ended one of their phone conversations because she could not hear him. He took that to mean she had hung up on him. He texted that she "messed up" by hanging up the phone and wrote "yeah, you're done," Brown said.



Ward seemed to have calmed down when he arrived at the bar, but Brown said she was still apprehensive because she knew he was still upset. He offered her a ride, and Newman said she would go with them to make sure Brown was OK.



Brown said she asked him not to hurt her. "Promise me," she said she told him. The women got into the car after he agreed, and he sped away with Newman seated next to him and Brown in the back seat.



Ward took her cellphone and began yelling that she shouldn't have hung up on him, Brown said. Within five minutes, she said, Ward pulled out his pistol.



Brown said she didn't know where Ward was taking them and couldn't escape because only the driver's side door opens from the inside. At one point, she said, she leaned toward Ward to calm him down and he hit her on the back of her head with the pistol.



Brown said she pulled out her stun gun from her purse, but she panicked when Ward saw the light from the device and threw it at him. He soon put the gun in his lap, grabbed the stun gun and used it on her several times, she said.



Once they got to McIver Park, Ward ordered her out of the car, told her to go to toward the back of the car and strip.



When his gun didn't fire, Brown said, Ward asked her why she was naked. He told her to put on her clothes and get back in the car. She left her wet socks in the grass at the park and they left.



They drove to Viewpoint Restaurant and Lounge in Estacada and stayed in the car for about a half-hour smoking meth and trying to persuade Ward that she wouldn't turn him in to police.



Dianna Amadio, a restaurant bartender, testified that she remembered Brown appeared to be agitated and fidgety, but suspected drug use as the cause. She said the three played video poker, then she poured Brown a drink and made her a sandwich.



Around 15 minutes after the three arrived, Amadio said that Brown bussed her plate, grabbed a Keno pencil and a napkin and wrote, "I need help. Please Help me. Don't say anything please."



Amadio said she asked Brown if she needed to call police and Brown replied, "I think so." The bartender said it was clear Brown was trying not to catch the attention of the people with whom she had come into the lounge.



Amadio called the 911 non-emergency line and asked for a deputy to come to the business.



"I thought I should call," she said. "No matter how severe it was or wasn't."

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey