Laurie Snell, the estranged wife of Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Sean Parnell, testified under oath Monday that Parnell hit her, choked her, called her a “whore” and “piece of s—t” while pinning her down, and slapped one of their children so hard that fingerprint-shaped welts appeared under the child’s shirt, among other acts of abuse.
The first of three days of custody hearings in family court began on Monday. Snell is seeking primary custody of their three children, who range in age from 8 to 12. Snell testified that Parnell had “tried to choke me out on a couch and I literally had to bite him” to get free.
“He was strangling me.” On automobile journeys, he would shout at her for reasons she didn’t understand, including a Thanksgiving trip in 2008 when Parnell pulled over on the highway, briefly pushed her out of the car, and yelled at her to “go get an abortion,” according to Snell.
Parnell, a decorated Army veteran, is believed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, which he was diagnosed with during combat tours in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007. As per TheWeek, Parnell accused his estranged wife of lying about various issues in a statement posted by his campaign.
“Let me emphatically state: I have never raised a hand in anger towards my wife or any of our three children,” the statement said. “What happened today in court was not justice, nor did it have any basis in fact or truth.” Parnell was in the courtroom Monday, but “his expression was not visible to reporters in the room,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“The sworn, public testimony — which took place after Parnell had tried and failed to win a court order silencing his wife — seemed certain to significantly damage his ambitions, after he had emerged as the likely frontrunner in a critical U.S. Senate race, one of a handful that could decide control of the chamber,” the Inquirer reports.
Former President Donald Trump backed Parnell for the Senate seat being left by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey and campaigned alongside him this fall.
“For Trump, the flurry of charges from Snell meant that he has now endorsed two Republican candidates shadowed by domestic abuse allegations,” along with Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker, the Inquirer notes. “Walker’s ex-wife has testified that he was physically abusive and threatening toward her.”
