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Defense attorneys concede that Michael John Bowden allowed his fiancée's disabled 5-year-old daughter to starve while the mother was driving military supply trucks last year in Iraq.
But they insisted Tuesday, during the first day of Bowden's child-abuse trial, that he did not knowingly or intentionally harm the girl, whose weight dropped from 35 to 13 pounds.
Defense attorney Erin Eliason told the court that Bowden suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of his own Iraq war experience. As a result, he was suffering from flashbacks and depression and drinking up to 18 beers a day before hitting the bars at night, she said.
As Jade Anzures grew increasingly emaciated during the summer of 2006, Bowden was mostly "in a drunken stupor," Eliason said.
Bowden, 26, is charged in 3rd District Court with second-degree felony child abuse, but Eliason claims he is guilty of a lesser third-degree felony, which implies reckless behavior.
Eliason noted that Bowden told a police officer after his arrest, "Maybe I did screw up, but I did the best I could."
Prosecutor William Kendall countered that Bowden's behavior reflected knowing indifference to Jade's condition. Instead of caring for the girl, Bowden played poker, billiards and softball, Kendall said.
Meanwhile, he was spending Jade's monthly Social Security checks and the military paychecks Jade's mother, Anahi Ferrando, was depositing in their joint checking account, Kendall said.
The girl - who suffers from severe spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy - was in good health, according to her mother, before she was deployed to Iraq at the end of April 2006.
Four months later, on Aug. 22, 2006, the girl was "skin and bones," testified her grandfather, Raphael Ferrando, who took her from Bowden and rushed her to a hospital after obtaining a protective order.
The grandfather testified that days earlier, when he went to Bowden's West Valley City address and asked to see the girl, Bowden stalled for 30 minutes before bringing her outside.
Raphael Ferrando said he was "shocked" at the girl's condition, but Bowden kept saying, "What?" and asking what was wrong.
The grandfather said he called 911, but was further frustrated when paramedics determined the girl's vitals were good and there was no emergency.
But, Kendall said, doctors at Primary Children's Medical Center will testify the girl was "severely malnourished and close to death."
Anahi Ferrando testified Bowden never mentioned he had PTSD, and she assumed his mental-health counseling was the routine counseling offered to all war veterans.
She said Bowden had volunteered to care for Jade, and that her only concern was that he might become overwhelmed. To that end, she said she repeatedly told Bowden he could leave Jade with her parents if he needed a break.
Jade, now 6, is "doing good now," Ferrando said. "She's getting ready to start school and is up to the weight she should be - close to 35 pounds."