Coming up.

She said she's been carrying Mace with her,

kind of, you know, looking in all directions,

wherever she goes and just hoping that he has tired of this case

and maybe he's just happy that he's out of prison.

For Vault Studios, I'm Reid Redmond.

You're listening to The Daily Crime.

Music You're listening to The Daily Crime. In 2016, a jury in Yamhill County, Oregon, voted 10 to to convict Pedro Sanchez of second-degree assault for allegedly attacking a woman with a sledgehammer.

But it's a conviction that didn't last long.

Last year, that conviction was overturned after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Oregon

could no longer allow convictions on jury verdicts that weren't unanimous.

A retrial was scheduled for early 2021, but Sanchez's accuser says safety

concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic kept her from showing up to testify, and Sanchez is now a

free man. I just don't see how it ever should come down to a decision of whether I want to be safe from COVID or safe from the person

who hit me in the head with a sledgehammer.

Catherine Cook, you've been reporting on this case with KGW in Portland, Oregon.

And this case has been an unusual series of events. Is that

fair? Definitely fair, read. I would go so far as to say it's complicated at the very least.

And I usually like to start at the very beginning of a story and work toward the present. But with

this case, let's actually start with the most

recent news because I found it so surprising. The headline of your most recent story was

Oregon Hammer attack suspect walked free after a woman refuses to testify without a mask in

...