it s never good news. 5:00 in the morning. i knew something was wrong. he just began sobbing and saying, no, no. it was just before midnight when the shooting started. he had been shot multiple times. on the ground. face down. a man was dead, but not just any man. how do you kill superman? how is superman dead. he was an olympian and a father, killed, his wife says, by an intruder in his own backyard. [inaudible] describe to me. but if their fought husband was dead, outside by was the gun found hidden inside. and what other secrets were hidden away? sometimes she would say things like, i would be better off the deep wasn t around. was the father defending the family or was she? she throws that night. the mystery may not be who did it, but why. the truth will come out and justice will be served. i have to believe that. welcome to dateline. an elite athlete dave laut reached olympic heights taking ventura county, california where he grew up wearing
on the stand, jane admitted that she lied in her 9-1-1 call. 9-1-1 emergency. something over there in the backyard. and later, to the police about a prowler. but she denied that she had any financial motive for killing her husband. after all, she did not ask for, nor did she receive a penny of dave s life insurance. jane would never be about finances, absolutely not. why do you say that? because, that is not her value. jane is about relationship, she is about family, she is about children. she s it s never been about money for her. of course, the prosecutor got his turn to cross-examine jane. there were a lot of, i don t remember s, about the night of the murder. she simply couldn t recall what happened after she fired the first two or three shots, she said. but she did admit that she was quite familiar with the gun. in fact, had used it several times before.
school, and sometimes let dawn the little laut, tackle on. she was wonderful she was fun. they just got along so well, they loved each other. it was just neat. when they got married in 1980 jane s friend helen s was a bridesmaid. going that morning in the wedding to jane s parents house, and all the girls getting dressed up, and that was really fun. it was just sweet, and jane was quite excited. she looked gorgeous, beautiful beautiful on her. wedding day he had her on a pedestal he always said such wonderful things about her. this is don s wife, rebecca. we talk became very close, we talk maybe once, twice a week in the phone, and probably four hours here and i we just hit it off, we were family. jane was there by daves side as it became a national and then world competitor. dave won the bronze medal in the 1984 games, but after his career faded quickly. he kept trying, but knee
facing 50 years to life for the murder of her husband, when prosecutors offer to cut jane laut s sentence to just 6 years if she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, she said no. which he regret that decision? here is keith morrison with the final chapter of the hometown hero and the homecoming queen. dave laut was a son, he was a father, he was a colleague, he was a friend. more than six years after the death of olympic bronze medalist dave laut, the murder trial of his wife, jane, finally began in this ventura county courtroom. the prosecutor told the jury jane was a calculated killer. if you look at each of the six shots, they were administered by this defendant. as she was executing her plan to murder her husband. there is only one reasonable
more than five years after dave s death, in a move that shocked janes defense attorney, the prosecution indicated it would be open to making a deal. and i was blown away. a plea deal? yes, and what a deal it was. if jane pleaded guilty, to voluntary manslaughter, she would be sentenced to just six years and would most likely serve only three. it seemed like an admission of weakness from the prosecution, said bamieh, and the opportunity for a lifetime the for a woman facing first degree murder to life. and so i give her my strong recommendation that she took it. and she said no. the and i was just like, i was stunned. i said, jane, i just kept saying, do you understand, and she said, i understand fully, it is not on you, it is my decision.