Page 11 - Son Michael News Today

And you know, drugs and burglaries go hand in hand. >> reporter: investigators believed that kay was beaten at her home in a narrow window of time between 7:10am and 7:20am that morning. but michael said he didnt arrive at the scene until 8:30. and said he had an alibi for the time before that. hed been hanging out, he said, with a friend named anthony. >> reporter: whats the story he tells you about that day? >> we pull -- we pull anthony in and we -- we interview him and -- and anthonys, hes a...

The strange feeling i get sometimes. >> like said rebecca the time jane told her two men put a knife to her throat and demanded money. >> and i said, well, did you call the police? did you yell? she says, oh, no, i just -- i just came home. i just wanted to get home. and i said, this was in the middle of the day and nobody else saw? she said, no. >> and then there was her claim that somebody was leaving threatening notes on her car. >> but then you would ask her, and probe her, like what kind of...

That night, according to bamieh, for the first time, dave threatened michaels life. she really believed he was going to kill michael? >> yeah. >> so she made a decision to fight. >> jane had taken michael to the beach that day, said bamieh. they were late getting home. >> dave was upset. started screaming and yelling, nobody respects me. i dont get any attention around here. nobody cares about me. >> jane put michael to bed, got into pajamas herself and waited for daves anger to subside. >> but ...

>> defense attorney ron bamieh countered the real victim was jane laut, who suffered the utmost cruelty at the hands of her husband. >> he is not the hero of the olympics. he is the monster who abused her for 27 years. >> the defense called family and friends and neighbors who all testified jane was an abused spouse. but attorney bamieh said the most important witness was the defendant herself. >> if youre going to get a not guilty, which is what were shooting for, she has to testify. >> the jud...

>> the officers had to lock down and call in a homicide team to investigate further. it was a brutal scene. >> ventura countys investigator mike palmeiri arrived, there was no sign of a prowler. but they did find dave laut. >> he had been shot multiple times. he was on the ground, face down, with very obvious gunshot wounds to his back and to the back of his head. >> jane was a mess. she told investigators she had no idea who would do this. >> is there anybody who would want to harm him at all? ...

One time on her face. her arms, her legs. several places. >> this is a monster. hes just a monster. >> ron bamieh is janes defense attorney. and according to him, dave laut is far from the hometown hero so many believed him to be. the real truth about dave laut, said bamieh, for nearly three decades, he subjected his wife to horrific abuse. >> like all abuse, its power and control. we have verbal abuse, over a long period of time. emotional abuse. the way he treats her. we have physical abuse, t...

If dave missed his former glory he never showed it and of course remained a legend to his niece and nephewnephews. >> one phrase that could best describe him is a gentle giant. he had so much patience and so much kindness. >> at home dave and jane stru struggled to children. >> i felt bad when i would get pregnant. >> they adopted a baby boy from south korea named michael. >> they were happy. >> moments in time, inspiration on a garage ball. >> it did you want make sense. no. its not right. it d...

>> that was one big red flag for me and maybe the leading one that kept me going because i knew there would be no way that my brother would ever have left his daughter. ever. >> at the he jeep dealership where mike had worked for ten years, his name was rarely mentioned in conversation. >> after three or four years of mike being gone, it didnt come up too much anymore. >> we knew he was sick. we didnt really know if he was still in a hospital somewhere or if he had actually just passed away from...

>> i emptied the gun. i had never been so afraid in my life. >> he turned around and ran way from you. >> he did. >> and you kept shooting. >> i did. >> he just turned and i ran and i kept shooting. >> how far did he get? >> ten feet. >> then what happened? >> then he fell down. >> elizabeth, mike and ellens 6-year-old daughter, was fast asleep in the bedroom. she didnt wake up. but ellens son michael, 17, was in his bedroom and he did. >> he was calling 911. i told him, just hang up, michael. >...

Ellens son michael was there in support of his mom, just as he had been on the day she shot her husband. michael was still a minor when the killing happened and so, in exchange for his cooperation, he was given immunity and faced no charges. as we sit here, youre about to go into that courtroom and a judge is going to pronounce sentence. >> yep. >> you ready for whats coming? >> how do you say youre ready for that? i know that it has to happen, and i know it has to happen for this to be over. so...