LOS ANGELES : Drawings Used to Describe Man’s Castration by Wife

A doctor using anatomical drawings gave jurors a graphic description Tuesday of a man’s castration by his wife, and a prosecutor said he would show that the woman acted after accusing her husband of infidelity.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Longo said in an opening statement that Aurelia Macias, 35, cut off her husband’s testicles with a large pair of scissors while he slept. The prosecutor said Aurelia Macias dialed 911 after the attack and told the operator: “I cut my husband’s testicles out.”

The wife, charged with felony mayhem in the Sept. 20, 1992, attack on Jaime Macias, sat with her head down staring at the counsel table as the first witness, Dr. Eric Robins, told of Jaime Macias’ distress at the hospital.

Deputy Public Defender Nan Whitfield reserved until later in the trial her right to deliver an opening statement.

Longo said Macias was asleep in a drunken stupor after imbibing more than 16 beers during a baptism party for a friend’s child. During the party, Aurelia Macias accused her husband of infidelity, Longo said.

He said the couple’s 17-year-old son heard his father moaning, discovered his injuries and went with him to the hospital. He said the son was sent home and found one testicle, but it was too late to try reattachment.

The Maciases have reunited and did not want the case tried. But Longo has vowed to convict Aurelia Macias, comparing the case to that of a battered wife who refuses to testify against her husband. Whitfield has said that Aurelia Macias was abused by her husband.