Estranged wife of GOP U.S. Senate candidate Sean Parnell testifies he abused her and children

The estranged wife of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sean Parnell testified during a child custody hearing Monday that his fits of rage toward her began within the first few months of their relationship, and the rage later turned into abuse.

But she said under oath that it wasn’t until early 2018, about a decade into their relationship, when Parnell became physically abusive with two of their children that she decided to end the relationship.

“When he started hitting the kids in 2018, that was the final straw,” said Laurie Snell, who has filed a petition for primary custody of their children, ages 12, 11 and 8.

Snell testified for more than two hours on the first day of the custody trial in Butler County, before Senior Judge James Arner. The trial will continue on Nov. 8 and 9. Each side has a day and a half to present their case, Arner said.

Parnell, who was present in court, issued a written statement on Monday, prior to the entry of any testimony or evidence from his side. Snell has not yet been questioned by Parnell’s attorneys.

“We are looking forward to our day in court to set the record straight,” Parnell said. “We anxiously await the opportunity to refute these hurtful, baseless allegations.”

Parnell added: “Let me emphatically state: I have never raised a hand in anger toward my wife or any of our three children. What happened today in court was not justice, nor did it have any basis in fact or truth. Next week, I’ll have an opportunity to present the truth to the court, and I look forward to that opportunity.”

Parnell and Snell have been separated since 2018. In September, Parnell filed a motion to have the entirety of the custody case placed under seal and a gag order imposed on the parties. Arner denied the motion, though he agreed to protect information about the children’s mental and physical health.

On Monday morning, the three children testified privately in chambers with only the judge and attorneys involved in the case present.

When the trial resumed in the courtroom, Snell’s brother and sister testified, telling the court that they had previously seen Parnell screaming at the children.

Timothy Snell, the wife’s brother, said he once witnessed Parnell “raging” at his son when the boy spilled Cheerios on the kitchen counter.

Timothy Snell also testified that the Parnell family was once in his truck as they were traveling in West Virginia, when Parnell had a “PTSD episode” in which he thought he was back in Afghanistan.

“He thought he was in Afghanistan,” Tim Snell said. “He said, ‘Where’s my gun? I don’t feel safe. I need my gun.’”

When Laurie Snell took the stand, she told the court that she and Parnell began dating in Watertown, N.Y., in 2008 and that their relationship evolved quickly.

Laurie Snell said that about three months into their relationship, she was talking about an ex-boyfriend when Parnell threw a chair across the kitchen.

“I’d never seen anybody get so angry,” Snell said. “It scared me to death. I left. I didn’t want anyone to hit me.”

She said she contemplated ending the relationship, but learned later that day that she was pregnant.

“It started from the beginning,” Snell said. “It just got worse and worse. It was constant.”

Snell testified that when she and Parnell were driving along Interstate 79 over Thanksgiving 2008 and she was several months’ pregnant, Parnell pulled over on the side of the highway.

“‘Get out of the car. Go get an abortion,’” she said he told her.

He drove off, but then backed up along the highway and she got back in the car.

The screaming continued for hours, Snell said.

She told the court that Parnell would hold her down and lock her in rooms and scream at her.

“He would pin me down by my thighs, and he would scream at me — everything from being a piece of (expletive) to (telling me) I’m crazy,” Snell said.

She testified that after her husband’s military service, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, cognitive disorder and anxiety. He also had tinnitus and joint pain, she said, and the Army declared him to be 90% disabled.

“The majority of our relationship, I attributed most of the anger to PTSD,” Laurie Snell said. “I was trying to be there for him.”

She said she felt sympathy for him.

Snell testified that after they moved to the Pittsburgh area, Parnell entered a doctoral program at Duquesne University. She testified that he would often come home frustrated by what he considered the “liberal” people around him.

She said that “things at home got worse and worse.”

She testified to an incident where Parnell tried to choke her on a couch, and he stopped only after she bit his arm.

Snell said in either late January or early February 2018, Parnell struck one of their children so hard in the back that it left a welt in the shape of a full handprint.

The child, she said, was completely distraught and traumatized.

When she asked her husband what happened, Snell said Parnell told her: “‘It was just a joke.’”

She took a picture of the handprint, which was admitted as evidence on Monday.

“I wanted to call the police. He said it would ruin his image and that wasn’t something we would do,” Snell said. “I didn’t realize how badly my children were being hurt until this shocked it into me.”

Snell told the judge that Parnell used to tell her, “‘Call the cops, and you’ll be dead before they arrive.’”

“He would say it jokingly,” she said. “He thought it was funny, but I took that to heart.”

In another incident that same year, Snell said that she watched Parnell, who had been playing with one of their children, get frustrated when the child wouldn’t stop.

“Sean punched the door, and (the door) hit (the child) in the face,” Snell said. “I watched Sean say, ‘That was your fault. You did that.’

“At that moment, I couldn’t do it anymore,” she continued. “I got him out of the house.”

The couple has been separated since then, Snell said.

Snell also told the court that Parnell not only called her names in front of the children, but he also called their children names, including “jerk” and saying to them, “‘You’re an idiot.’

“As I would parent, he would tell them not to listen to me,” she said. “He would just rage at them. He would scream and scream, and you couldn’t stop him.

“It was constant.”