Ex-Cal Fire Battalion Chief's Lawyers Attack Slain Girlfriend's Character In Murder Trial

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Lawyers for a Cal Fire battalion chief accused of murdering his girlfriend attacked the character of the victim in opening statements on Monday.

Orville Fleming, 56, is accused of stabbing his 26-year-old girlfriend Sarah Douglas to death last year.

Douglas was found stabbed to death on May 1, 2014, launching a massive manhunt stretching across the state. Fleming was found two weeks later hiding in bushes near where his truck was found previously.

In his opening statements on Monday, the defense attorney told the jury Douglas was a common prostitute who abused drugs and alcohol.

The attorney also said Fleming doesn't remember the attack.

Family and friends of Sarah Douglas were in court for the first day of the murder trial.

Among the evidence presented on Monday was a next-door neighbor who said she'd heard the family's loud fights before, and that she heard loud screaming for help on the morning of Douglas' death.

The jury was also shown investigators' crime scene video from inside the South Sacramento home the couple shared where Douglas was murdered, including a bloody knife, blood stains in nearly every room and Douglas' lifeless body.

Fleming has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney asked for the first-degree murder charged to be dropped to manslaughter.

Douglas' family says that won't be good enough.

"Every single day I want him to think of what he did to her. You not only stabbed her, you strangled her," her mother, Trudie Werley said.

The trial resumes on Tuesday and is expected to last a couple of weeks.