FULLERTON, Calif. – Testimony is expected to begin Tuesday in the trial of a man charged with raping and abducting his girlfriend's 15-year-old daughter, but he says the teen ran away with him willingly and eventually married him and bore his child.
Relatives of the girl, now an adult, are expected to testify about how she disappeared in 2004 with now-42-year-old Isidro Garcia after a fight at the family's apartment Santa Ana, California.
Prosecutors say Garcia forced the girl to stay with him, telling her she would be arrested and deported if she dared leave, and beating her when she tried.
Garcia's lawyer says his client's wife fabricated the abduction story in 2014 when she regretted her choice and wanted to reconnect with family.
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