Wendy Habert once thought of Terry Maketa as family – the man who walked her down the aisle when she got married, whose wife quit a job to be nanny to her first child.

But by September 2013, the love was gone, and a different side of the sheriff emerged.

Habert took the stand Thursday as the first witness in the former El Paso County sheriff’s corruption trial in 4th Judicial District Court, telling a jury she was fired and subjected to a criminal investigation after a dust-up with then-Undersheriff Paula Presley, a close Maketa ally.

Events she described formed the basis of all four felony counts against Maketa, making Habert a ripe target for Maketa’s prominent attorney, Pamela Mackey of Denver, who launched a slashing cross-examination – supplying early fireworks in a trial poised to expose shifting alliances and simmering feuds during Maketa’s turbulent third term in the Sheriff’s Office.

Habert, who helped direct three of Maketa’s successful campaigns for sheriff, said her relationship with Maketa transformed when she refused Presley’s request to be her campaign manager at a time Presley was mulling a run to succeed Maketa as sheriff.

Soon Habert was out of a job – fired by her jail contractor employer, Correctional Healthcare Companies. Two human resources representatives told her in a candid talk that her termination was decreed by their clients, for “politically driven” reasons, Habert said.

She also told jurors she was questioned about her conversations with a jail nurse under her supervision who had accused a then-deputy of domestic violence – a deputy authorities say rode dirt bikes with Maketa during off-hours.

Prosecutors say Habert’s sudden fall from favor was the result of a retaliation campaign by a man who used his authority as a cudgel. During opening statements, special prosecutor Chris Wilcox said Maketa went so far as to threaten the jail contractor that he would terminate a $5 million contract unless Habert was fired – the basis for charges of extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion.

The criminal investigation into Habert focused on whether she had coached the jail nurse who had accused Maketa’s friend of domestic violence, she told the jury. In reality, prosecutors alleged during opening statements, Maketa wanted simply to stamp out the domestic violence allegations that ended up claiming his friend’s career as a deputy.

Maketa is also accused of coercing that woman, Kelli Trull, now McMahan, to recant her story – allegations that give rise to two counts of witness tampering, both felonies. McMahan, who authorities say agreed to change her story and claim she was the aggressor, was ultimately jailed on suspicion of harassment and drunken driving.

During the defense’s opening statement, Mackey described Habert as a “problem employee” who clashed with colleagues and routinely overstepped her bounds at the jail, inserting herself into issues above her pay grade.

On cross-examination, Mackey wasted no time in teasing out an alternate explanation for why Habert ended up on Maketa’s bad side, spurring Habert to recount the salty language she used in turning down Presley’s request.

“You called her a bitch, correct?” Mackey said.

“I called her a train wreck bitch,” Habert said.

“And you’re saying this to the undersheriff of El Paso County, correct?” went Mackey’s response.

During a different exchange, Habert described a tense phone call with Maketa over her refusal to help Presley. When Maketa hung up on her, Habert called back and told him, “F- you.”

“You called him for 1 minute – just long enough to say ‘F- you’? Mackey pressed.

“It only takes a second,” Habert shot back.

Habert was made to read from an employment complaint filed against her by a sheriff’s supervisor at the jail, and confronted with transcripts of an interview with a sheriff’s detective in which she made no mention of claims that Maketa had coerced McMahan to drop her allegations.

Mackey even raked her for refusing to accept an apology from a jail commander whom Habert had accused of sexual harassment – another breaking point with Maketa.

Mackey in her opening remarks said Maketa contacted Correctional Healthcare Companies demanding only that she be transferred elsewhere, not fired. Mackey said Maketa routinely threatened to nix the company’s multimillion dollar contract when they failed to correct problems at the jail. That contract was at-will and could be terminated at any time, for any reason, Mackey said.

As for the episode involving domestic violence allegations against Maketa’s friend, Mackey said Maketa received a phone call from the woman asking for a third interview. He approved the additional interview, and that was the end of his involvement.

Maketa was initially charged with second-degree kidnapping and false imprisonment related to McMahan’s arrest, but prosecutors dropped those counts before trial, saying they didn’t have enough evidence to prove them.

The defense effort to blunt accusations against Maketa continued with exhaustive questioning of McMahan in which Mackey detailed her evolving accounts of why she recanted her abuse allegations.

McMahan told jurors that Maketa told her over a phone call that she could help get her boyfriend, Travis Garretson, out of trouble if she changed her story and told detectives she was the aggressor.

She said Maketa assured her she wouldn’t get in trouble.

Armed with sheriff’s reports and CBI interview transcripts, Mackey pointed to one later interview in which McMahan said it was Presley who pressured her, not Maketa. She referred to another version that minimized Maketa’s role.

Only in May 2016 did McMahan finally report to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation her story that Maketa had coerced her, Mackey said, drawing a protest from the witness.

“”That wouldn’t be the first time I said that at all,” she said. McMahan said she told friends about Maketa’s overture on the day it occurred.

But McMahan, who now lives in Alabama, admitted omitting the allegation in some interviews, partly because her boyfriend was around at the time and partly because she said Maketa warned her not to tell anybody.

Mackey questioned why cellphone records couldn’t be found to prove her claim that Garretson and Maketa frequently talked on the phone, handing prosecutors another potential inconsistency to combat.

Joe Briester, a bureau chief under Maketa, told the panel that Maketa ordered him to drop plans to open an Internal Affairs investigation against Garretson. Breister, now El Paso County undersheriff, said he complied.

The final witness of the day, former jail health care contract employee Carl Anderson, described being summoned to a meeting at which Maketa threatened to cancel the jail contract unless Habert was fired.

His testimony is expected to continue when the proceedings resume at 9 a.m. Friday.

The trial officially began Tuesday, with two days of jury selection, and is expected to last at least two weeks.