As a result of Judge Rudolph Randa’s ruling, the trial of Drs. Jefferson N. and Elnora Calimlim, and their son Jefferson M. Calimlim, resumed May 24.

The trial was in recess Monday and Tuesday because Randa attended a judicial conference in Chicago, according to the Journal Sentinel.

The elder Calimlims’ attorneys argued on May 19 that prosecutors did not adequately prove a case against the Calimlims.

Federal prosecutors accuse them of importing a maid, Irma Martinez, and keeping her working in the family home and out of public view for 19 years.

Their eldest son, Jefferson M. Calimlim, also is charged with harboring an illegal immigrant and making a false statement to a federal investigator.

Michael Fitzgerald, Elnora Calimlim’s lawyer, said there is no evidence the Calimlims forced Martinez to work for them specifically, and that the maid could have gone to work for another family.

He likened Martinez’s case to that of other illegal immigrants who seek to remain out of public view. “That is the same fear of the 10 or 11 million illegal aliens that live in this country,” he said.

Prosecutors responded by saying that the Calimlims systematically intimidated Martinez into staying with them and intentionally exploited her for 19 years for cheap labor.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Johnson reiterated that the Calimlims told Martinez she was illegal upon her arrival despite a visa they had secured for her.

Johnson also noted the difference between the millions of illegal immigrants living and working in the U.S., and Martinez who was not allowed to be seen with the family when outsiders were present.

“Those other aliens, even though they are illegal, are walking around and making their own choices,” she said. “It is clear (Martinez) did not want to work under the conditions she was in.”

In ruling, Randa said enough credible evidence has been presented that the case should be allowed to proceed.

If convicted, the Calimlims face penalties including possible prison, fines and forfeiture of their palatial Brookfield home

Martinez’s plight came to light when Sherry Bantug, an estranged wife of the younger Jefferson Calimlim, called federal authorities.

“I care about her,” Bantug testified, describing Martinez as missing out on her chance for a family of her own. “She was afraid.”

Bantug, whose marriage to the younger Calimlim lasted 17 months, said she called authorities while the divorce was pending in the fall of 2004.

Martinez worked for the Calimlim family from July 1985 until she was removed from the house in Sept. 29, 2004, according to testimony.

She now lives in a Chicago apartment with her father and has a new job. She has been given a temporary worker permit to stay in the U.S. until October.

Less than two years into her time working for the Calimlims, Martinez wrote to her family in the Philippines to say she felt “like a prisoner” in the U.S. “If I’m out with them and they see another Filipino, they hide me,” Martinez wrote in one letter.

In her testimony, Martinez said the Calimlims never brought her to the doctor even when she’s in extreme pain over irregular menstrual cycles.

She said Elnora would tell her that she could not go to the doctor because she was undocumented without insurance or a Social Security number, Martinez testified.

About five or six years after Martinez agreed at age 18 to go to the U.S. and work as a maid, she began menstruating twice a month, something “I knew wasn’t normal,” she testified.

“I dropped to the floor sometimes” in pain, she said.

Martinez said that Elnora never examined her but told her that she would not be able to have children.

She said the family also would not take her to a dentist to care for her broken tooth — again because of her illegal status.

But under cross-examination by Elnora’s attorney, Michael Fitzgerald, Martinez acknowledged writing letters to her mother that said the Calimlims cared for her medical needs.

“I was sick for two weeks,” Martinez wrote in an Aug. 20, 1999, letter to her mother. “Nora [Elnora’s nickname] gave me a lot of medication. Don’t worry about me. I live with a lot of doctors so I will be fine.”

Meanwhile, the Calimlims’ closest friends and neighbors testified that they never knew the Calimlims had a maid and never saw one when they were at the house.

Martinez testified that Elnora told her she could not be seen by or meet people because they might report her to the authorities for being an illegal.

“She told me that I could go to prison,” Martinez said.

To keep her hidden, the family controlled virtually every aspect of her life, she testified.

She could not go in the yard, even to play with the Calimlims’ three children, who were young when she first began working there.

The children often were frustrated as well, asking why they couldn’t go outside to play, she testified.

She also could not answer the door, unless it was relatives. There was one exception: a Halloween when she asked to be able to hand out candy and was told to wear a mask that covered her face, she testified.

She was told to answer the phone only after it rang 10 times and after she made sure it was one of the Calimlims calling, she said. Her letters to her family were placed in a second envelope without her name on the return address.

Although she did the family cooking, she was not allowed to go grocery shopping and had to give her grocery list to the family for purchasing.

When she went to church, she did not sit with the family. At times she was told to duck down in the car to avoid being seen, she said.

Prosecutors said Martinez earned about $100 a month — or less than $4 a day — for the first 10 years and about $400 thereafter.

The Calimlims, who immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1970s, live in a $1.2 million, 8,600-square-foot home with about four cars, including a Porsche.

Martinez testified that she served as a maid and nanny and also cleaned the Calimlims’ investment rental apartments and Jefferson N. Calimlim’s medical offices and medical instruments.

She also washed, waxed and changed the oil for the family’s cars — always inside the garage to avoid being seen.

When the family had guests over, she was told to hide in her basement bedroom and lock the door from inside. Sometimes the parties, for which she would cook the food, would last five to eight hours, and they would be held in the basement right outside her bedroom, she said.

Martinez testified that she was not allowed to leave the bedroom to go to the bathroom until the guests had left. Once they left, she had to clean up the party mess.

She cried as she viewed a photograph of some of her eight siblings in front of their family hut in the Philippines, saying that she has never seen some of her brothers who were born after she left.

But under cross-examination by defense attorneys, Martinez acknowledged that she had opportunities to leave the Calimlims.

Martinez decided to stay to keep earning money for her family. Her money helped her siblings go to school and her parents build a better home and buy farmland, farm equipment and medicine for her ill father.

She testified that she never went home because she knew she would not be able to return to the United States.

Martinez said she hopes to remain here after the trial ends.