photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Sean Martin Reese is pictured at a preliminary hearing on July 12, 2023, in Douglas County District Court. Reese was ordered to stand trial on an aggravated battery charge in connection with a stabbing on May 21, 2023.

An alleged stabbing victim was held in contempt of court after refusing to testify Wednesday in Douglas County District Court, and an attempted-murder charge was reduced for the Baldwin City man accused of attacking her.

After a preliminary hearing, the man, Sean Martin Reese, 38, was ordered to stand trial on one felony count of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm or, in the alternative, a lesser felony count of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Reese was originally charged with one felony count of attempted second-degree murder, as the Journal-World reported. The incident is alleged to have occurred on or around 11:30 p.m. on May 21 in the 1300 block of Rhode Island Street.

According to Kansas sentencing guidelines, if Reese were convicted of the higher-level felony he would face a maximum of 172 months, or more than 14 years, while if convicted of the lesser felony he would face a maximum of 34 months, or less than three years.

The woman Reese is alleged to have stabbed took the stand Wednesday morning. She was at first smiling and exchanging glances with Reese until the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Ricardo Leal, began to question her about the incident.

She said that she and Reese had previously dated, that she still cared for him and that she did not want to testify against him. She said she remembered that she had been stabbed and that she had spoken to police, but she said she didn’t know who stabbed her or what she told police that night.

“I’ll plead the Fifth now,” the woman told the court. “I really don’t want to go up against someone I care about. I’m not answering any more questions.”

Judge Sally Pokorny told the woman that it was too late in the process for her to exercise her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

The woman then answered a few more questions before renewing her objections to testifying when Leal asked again if she remembered who stabbed her. The woman refused to answer the question, claiming that she and Reese were “technically married at the time” and she couldn’t be forced to testify.

“I find you in direct contempt of court,” Pokorny said and ordered the woman removed from the courtroom.

Two court security officers approached the woman, who initially resisted before being taken into custody. Pokorny then ordered the woman, who is on probation, to be tested for drugs as she may have been under the influence while testifying.

Three Lawrence police detectives then testified about their involvement in the investigation.

Detective Kimberlee Nicholson said that she interviewed Reese on May 22 after Reese had turned himself in. She said Reese told her conflicting stories about the night in question.

Detective Robert Dean Brown testified that he documented a large trail of blood at the residence leading from the porch to a bedroom in the house. He said that no one else was in the home.

Detective Mike Verbanic testified that he interviewed the woman at Overland Park Regional Medical Center. Verbanic said she was “agitated and at times screaming in pain” and that he documented five wounds on the woman, including what doctors told him were two “deep puncture wounds” to the woman’s thigh and buttocks. He said she had three additional lacerations on her face, arm and leg.

The woman told Verbanic that she had been sleeping in Reese’s room in the house and that he woke her up that night to ask where she had put his “sticks of dynamite,” which she described as small sticks about 4 to 6 inches long, Verbanic said. She told Reese she had thrown them out, and she said that Reese immediately stabbed her one time in the right buttocks, then “disappeared,” Verbanic said. According to the affidavit in support of Reese’s arrest, the “dynamite” was later found in the residence, and investigators determined the explosives were homemade fireworks.

The woman told Verbanic that she could feel herself bleeding and crawled to the porch, screaming for help, until someone arrived and called 911, Verbanic said.

Reese’s attorney, Hatem Chahine, asked if Verbanic could tell if the woman was under the influence at the hospital, whether from medications provided there or otherwise. Verbanic said that the woman had just experienced trauma and her behavior reflected that, but that she was able to intelligently respond to his questions.

Chahine asked if she described how the other four injuries occurred, but Verbanic said the woman told him she only remembered being stabbed once.

Leal then asked for Reese to be bound over for trial on a reduced charge of aggravated battery causing great harm and said he did not believe that the original attempted-murder charge was warranted based on the evidence presented.

Pokorny agreed to the reduced charge and ordered Reese to next appear in court for a status conference on July 19.

Reese has multiple felony convictions in Douglas County, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records, including flee and elude in 2018 and aggravated assault and obstruction in 2004. He was also convicted of felony flee and elude in 2021 in Shawnee County.