Norberg Witness: Domestic Violence is "Trump Card" - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

She's a longtime family law attorney who called the domestic violence element "the trump card" in any divorce proceeding.

Janel Fredericksen took the stand for the defense yesterday in the case against a Fargo doctor accused of drugging his wife, then raping her.

She says there's essentially no other issue a judge considers in a divorce that can knock out domestic violence allegations in North Dakota divorces.

That fits with the defense's argument that Doctor Jon Norberg was set up by his wife, who'd consented to him dosing her with the drug Propofol in their home to treat her various mental and physical ailments. He says she also consented to the sex afterward. Norberg's attorneys say his wife then claimed rape as a means to get the upper hand when he asked her for a divorce.

Both the drugging and the sexual assaults alleged in this case would fit the definition of domestic violence, according to this expert.

The defense called two other witnesses - both colleagues of Dr. Jon Norberg.

They both said he was a conscientious doctor and not a risk taker at work.

And that he was unlikely to be the kind of person to use drugs on his wife.