FARGO -- On the third day of testimony in the trial of a West Fargo man accused of killing his wife, the jury heard from some of the last people to see the woman the day she died as well as the doctor who performed her autopsy and ruled her death a homicide.
Spencer Moen, 32, was charged in Cass County District Court with murder, a Class AA felony charge that alleges he intentionally or knowingly caused the death of his wife, 30-year-old Sonja Moen, or willfully caused her death under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.
Some of the last people to see Sonja Moen alive were called to the stand, including Kyle and Savannah Prodzinski of Mapleton. After Sonja Moen and two of their children picked Spencer up from a Mapleton Brewery, the family stopped by the Prodzinski home.
"It was pretty typical if Spencer was in the area, he would just pop in and say, 'Hi,' " Kyle Prodzinski said. Kyle Prodzinski had also been at the brewery earlier in the day with Spencer Moen. While there, Kyle Prodzinksi said Spencer Moen repeatedly tried to charge his drinks to Prodzinski's tab.
Later, when the Moens were at the Prodzinksi's home, the Prodzinski couple said Savanah Prodzinski and Spencer Moen had a verbal disagreement over flooring work by Moen that was billed for more than the amount that Spencer Moen initially quoted. Still, the Moen family left the Prodzinski home on a peaceful note, with the Prodzinski's exchanging quick "love you's," with Sonja and Spencer Moen.
Savanah Prodzinski also described the type of person Sonja Moen was. Savannah Prodzinski said Sonja Moen was always "very cheerful" and happy, a steadfast characteristic even if Sonja Moen was intoxicated. The Prodzinski's contacted the police shortly after hearing of Sonja Moen's death.
"We probably assumed we were the last people to see them before everything happened," Kyle Prodzinski said.
The prosecution began the day with testimony from Cass County Coroner Darrin Haverland, who testified the injuries he saw on Sonja Moen's head and face could not have been caused by falling in the bathtub.
The coroner testified that the bruises on Sonja Moen's face were across her face and not congruent with a fall, which would cause bruising on one side of her face. Instead, Sonja Moen had injuries visible across her head that would have only resulted from turning practically 360 degrees, hitting her head multiple times.
Friday afternoon, prosecutors called Dr. Kevin Whaley, the forensic pathologist who performed Sonja Moen's autopsy. He ruled the cause of death to be a subdermal hemorrhage due to blunt force trauma. The manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Prosecutor Renata Olafson Selzer asked if Whaley believed Sonja's death was caused by an accidental fall.
"No," Whaley said. "A fall should have injury in one place. It's the constellation of findings. I hate putting anything (as the cause of death) but natural. I would have loved nothing better than to figure out a way that it had been natural."
The primary reason he found the manner of death to be a homicide is because of the signature injuries to both sides of her head, at least three impacts to the side of her head.
The doctor -- who as an Arkansas native speaks with a heavy southern accent -- explained his qualifications as a medical expert. He said he has performed many autopsies for deaths that have been caused by trauma or falls. However, he does not consider outside influence when determining the manner or cause of death.
"The only person that doesn't lie to me is the dead person," Whaley said.
At the time of her death, Sonja Moen was wearing sweatpants, a shirt, no shoes and only one sock. Whaley noted that one of her natural nails was torn and broken.
Whaley said Sonja Moen had two black eyes and bruising under her chin. Scattered abrasions were found on her legs and some injuries to her elbows and right hip appeared to be similar to injuries that would be caused by dragging across something. Wahley said the majority of injuries seen on Sonja's knuckles and hands appeared to be defensive injuries. Injuries on her arms appeared to look like "grab marks." Additional marks on her thigh were consistent with a "punch in the thigh."
Whaley explained that Sonja's brain was severely injured as tissue that normally has a bumpy appearance had become smooth.
As photos of Sonja Moen's body -- taken during the autopsy -- were shown on screens in court, Spencer Moen rested his head on his hands as he looked at the photos without expression.
Sonja Moen had deep red bruising nearly from ear to ear across her eyes. Her lips had signs of hemorrhaging. Her right ear was swollen with blood and brain fluid.
"Sonja doesn't have much on the back. It's all on the front and on the sides," Whaley said.
Whaley and his office completed a toxicology report and .03 grams/deciliter of alcohol was found in Sonja Moen's body.
"So, in this case, it's a .037 so half, well below what a legal limit (.08) would be," Whaley said. He explained that the alcohol level he described is the same as what is often referred to in the public as blood alcohol level.
Olafson Selzer asked if there was any way to tell how much a person had to drink at the time of their death by the amount of alcohol found in the body. Whaley said there is not because of how quickly the body might break down alcohol is dependent on many factors from body weight to how often the person drank and could regularly break down alcohol. He said outdated science used to claim it could pinpoint how much alcohol someone had drank before death but that it was no longer used and unreliable.
"She had been drinking but she had stopped sometime before the event or the death," Whaley said of the autopsy findings.
Defense Attorney Richard Varriano has claimed that Sonja Moen was drinking before her death, possibly drunk.
"A person would be more likely to fall and injure themselves if they had been drinking and were exhausted from being in battle with someone," Varriano said.
Whaley said deaths from falls are generally seen in older patients. In younger people, death as a result of a fall is more often due to an individual being intoxicated. However, he noted a type of fracture he saw in Sonja is one that he's never seen associated with a fall.
Whaley detailed what can be the last acts of a body suffering from brain injuries, especially when there is swelling or bleeding of the brain. A person's breathing may become labored, they could vomit or they could experience seizures.
A video made by Spencer Moen on his cellphone of his wife laying on her side in the bathtub captures what Whaley said is called Cheyne-Stokes breathing, which is a type of abnormal breathing often just before death. The breathing is audible and can be similar to a snoring sound.
"The video is autopilot breathing. It's the body trying to do things to get blood up inside that skull," Whaley said.
Olafson Selzer asked if Sonja Moen was conscious in the video.
"No," Whaley said, basing his answer on the severe brain damage he saw during Moen's autopsy.
Olfason Selzer asked Whaley if he believed Sonja Moen could have moved from a position of being on her side with her head on the facet as she was seen in one video to being on her back with her head on the opposite end of the bathtub as she was found by first responders. Whaley said Sonja Moen's body could have been seizing at some point, which would explain unconscious movement but the drastic change in the position of the bathtub was not likely.
"It's not likely, but I wouldn't say it's impossible," Whaley said.
Whaley said there were no signs that Sonja Moen died due to choking on her own vomit, as the defense has alluded to.
After three hours of testimony by Whaley, the last person to take the stand Friday was Bonnie Snyder, an owner of the day care the Moen children attended since 2022. Snyder said Sonja Moen usually dropped off the children at about 8 a.m. Monday through Friday and she usually picked the children up. Snyder only recalled Spencer Moen dropping off the children one time. The children said their father dropped them off at day care on Aug. 10, the day Sonja Moen was found dead.
Snyder said one of the children appeared "very sad" that day and the other child was "quiet and didn't say a whole lot."
The prosecution has only one witness left to call prior to resting its case, which will likely occur Monday afternoon. Following that, the defense will begin calling witnesses, including the third child of Spencer and Sonja Moen.
However, prosecutors said they will file a motion requesting the child be allowed to testify by Zoom as two of the children did on Wednesday, Oct. 16. The child's therapist has recommended against the child facing their father in court.
On Thursday, Oct. 17, Cass County District Judge Nicholas Chase noted Varriano was witnessed speaking to a juror during lunch break. Jurors and members of the court are not allowed to communicate with one another during a trial in any way. A mistrial or the discharge of the juror could result from communication about the trial between a juror and an attorney.
Varriano said it was only a quick exchange.
"One of the jurors asked me if I was working out in the morning, and I said, 'Yeah, every day at 4 o'clock,' that was it," Varriano said Thursday.
Prosecutors agreed to continue the trial with no objections, but on Friday, Chase again addressed the issue. Both Chase and Olafson Selzer said they certainly believe the exchange was no more than Varriano described but to ensure the juror has no intentional bias, the juror is likely to be called into court Monday.
"We don't have enough to remove this juror. at the same time if the two parties agreed to it, I would remove him as a juror," Chase said. "I don't believe the man did anything wrong. I won't shame him for it, we just need to speak to him."
The 14-person jury consists of three women and 11 men. Of the 14 jurors, two are alternates and will be dismissed before deliberations.
Moen was also charged with a misdemeanor for contributing to the deprivation or delinquency of two minors, to which he pleaded guilty on Oct. 9.
If convicted of the Class AA felony murder charge, Moen faces a mandatory sentence of 30 years in prison.