Jury to take Manaig case

BRAWLEY — Testimony is expected to conclude today in the trial of 19-year-old Karl Manaig, who is alleged to have threatened to shoot two Imperial High classmates in February 2018.

Counsel’s closing arguments are also expected to follow the testimony of the defense’s last witness, barring the possibility of the prosecution calling any additional rebuttal witnesses.

“We may get the case to the jury (today),” said county Superior Court Judge Christopher Plourd, who has presided over the trial.

Manaig is facing two felony charges of making criminal threats, stemming from his Feb. 16, 2018, arrest for allegedly telling two senior classmates a day prior that he would shoot up the campus if he had the opportunity and would target them as well.

Manaig’s defense attorney has argued that the statements were made in poor taste during the students’ conversation about the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and that Manaig had no intention, never made plans or had the capability to carry out such a shooting.

On Wednesday, two of Manaig’s former teachers testified about their respective interactions with the defendant in the days leading up to his arrest.

Economics and civics teacher James Taylor spoke about an economics class project where Manaig and his classmates were required to create a fictional country, identify a manufactured product, the rationale for its production and its prospective consumers.

Manaig had partnered with Gabriel Lemus Anchondo, one of the alleged victims, for the project that had ultimately selected weapons production as its focus, Shaw said.

While other student groups had focused on weapons and defense systems as well for their projects, none had generated the amount of detail that Manaig had compiled for his list of firearms and ammunition, Taylor said.

When questioned on Wednesday by county Deputy District Attorney Mario Vela about that list, Taylor acknowledged it did not contain any references to robot armies, wands or medieval axes, as other students’ projects had.

The defense has argued that Manaig’s list, which contained references to various firearms’ capacity to injure and kill, represented a “fantastical” pursuit and did not reflect any deliberate planning for a potential school shooting.

Prior testimony revealed that Manaig’s list also contained references to armored vehicles and aircraft valued at millions of dollars.

At one time Manaig’s list was reportedly reviewed by Taylor, whose criticism about its focus on the firearms’ capacity to harm prompted Manaig to tell Lemus Anchondo, his project partner, that he would “punch” Taylor in the face if he ever criticized his classwork again, Lemus Anchondo had previously testified.

On Wednesday, Taylor testified that he was unaware Manaig had made such an alleged remark or whether Manaig personally disliked him.

Imperial High English teacher Theresa Theuret testified that on Feb. 15, 2018, she had assigned Manaig and his classmates a journal prompt entitled “Concerns of a School Shooting,” in response to the deadly Parkland, Fla., mass shooting of a day prior.

While other students in class volunteered to share their journal entries, Manaig did not choose to do so, Theuret said, adding that he was a “shy” student. Nor did he turn in his assignment, she said.

Manaig was also known to have spent time watching videos related to video games during her class, Theuret said.

County Deputy Defense Attorney Darren Bean on Wednesday played a pair of short YouTube videos of the kind Manaig was fond of watching in class.

The video clips, entitled “GTA Online: The Doomsday Heists Mark 2 Weapons Test” and “Testing Different Ammon Types — GTA Online,” were narrations of a video game user’s analysis of the efficiency of the game’s different weapons and ammunition.

The video clips made references to “kill shots” and “body armor,” which were also contained in a notebook Manaig compiled for his economics class project.

Wednesday’s court proceeding concluded with the testimony of two prosecution witnesses who provided rebuttals to testimony that Manaig’s parents provided on Tuesday.

Former classmate Lemus Anchondo again testified that he was “stabbed” in the back with a pencil by Manaig without provocation when they were both Ben Hulse Elementary School second-graders.

When Lemus Anchondo subsequently reported the incident to the school’s administrators, Manaig was visibly upset at the prospect of facing disciplinary action, Lemus Anchondo said.

On Tuesday, Manaig’s father denied having any recollection of the alleged incident, which Lemus Anchondo said had resulted in “serious” disciplinary action against Manaig.

Similarly, Imperial High Assistant Principal David Shaw returned to the witness stand to refute claims made on Tuesday by Manaig’s mother that her son was not expelled from the high school in 2016 for bringing a knife onto campus.

She further claimed her son’s expulsion resulted from him having threatened to harm himself.

While Manaig did reportedly indicate he wanted to harm himself, Shaw said his expulsion resulted from him having made threatening remarks to a student on March 21, 2016.

On that day, Manaig allegedly approached the student to tell them that they were lucky he was previously suspended on March 3, 2016, for bringing a knife to school, because he had intended to stab the student the day the knife was discovered, Shaw said.

“Technically, he was expelled for (making) threats,” Shaw said.

When taken together, the possession of the knife and the subsequent threatening remarks, Shaw said he felt compelled to expel Manaig.

“I was concerned about students’ safety,” he said.

The student who the alleged 2016 threats were directed at was not either of the two alleged victims at the center of the current case. Shaw also disclosed he considered Manaig an honest person who readily admitted what he had told the student on March 21, 2016.

The incident had prompted the intervention of the Imperial Police Department’s school resource officer, who transported Manaig to county Behavior Health Services for an evaluation after he reportedly indicated he wanted to harm himself.

The subsequent mental health evaluation reportedly determined that Manaig was no danger to himself or others, Shaw said.

Counsel on Wednesday also agreed to a stipulation that allows jurors to consider the fact that Manaig was diagnosed with ADHD and that he was on medication during the time in question.