Page 29 - Him Michael News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

It was a brutal scene. >> reporter: by the time first responders 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 facedown with very obvious gunshot wounds to his back and to the back of his head. >> reporter: jane was a mess. she told investigators she had no idea who would do this. son michael, 10 at the time, slept through it all. and jane's brother took charge of him while jane went down to the oxnard police department to offer a more complete statement. it had been a perfectly normal evening, jane said. they wer...

Because you know you've done -- you've gone as far as you can. and that door closes. >> and another door opened. dave became a high school biology teacher, coach, and athletic director. >> and he was even better at being a teacher and coach than he was even throwing. >> if dave missed his former glory, his family said he never showed it. and of course, remained a legend to his niece and nephews. >> i think one phrase that could best describe him is a gentle giant. >> yep. >> he had so much patience, so much kindness. >> at home, dave and jane struggled to have children. >> she wanted to have a...

Michael names, [ bleep ], racial names to michael that are just horrible. we have him yelling at him in the street because he can't ride a bike or catch a football or play baseball. >> all those years jane was afraid to report dave, said bamieh, afraid of what he might do to her loved ones. so she covered up her abuse and her injuries. we obtained this summary of a police report from the 1980s in which jane reported that an intruder attacked her while she was alone at work. at the time, police found the injuries consistent with jane's story. in fact, said bamieh, dave inflicted those injuries....

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 you're going to get a not guilty, which is what we're shooting for, she has to testify. >> the judge would not allow cameras to roll when for the first time publicly through tears jane told her story. she said she took dave's abuse for nearly three decades, until the night he threatened their son. >> i think she could live with the fact that he could kill ...

One time on her face. her arms, her legs. several places. >> this is a monster. he's just a monster. >> ron bamieh is jane's 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, it's power and control. we have verbal abuse, names he called her over a long period of time. emotional abuse. the way he treats her. we have physical abuse, that's everything from the punching to the kicking to the slapping to the hitt...