she tried to close the door with her in the laundry room and him out. why? well, said palmieri, jane was wearing pajamas when police arrived. but in the laundry room they found her jeans rolled up in a towel tucked between the washer and dryer. her top was lying there as well, inside out. it looked like they had been removed quickly, stashed away. and when an officer tried to administer a gunshot residue kit to jane s hands, standard procedure in a shooting investigation when the officer doing the test began getting the test ready, she did go into the bathroom and either wash her hands or wipe her hands on a towel, one of the two, before coming back to the table and before the test was done. so odd things. anyway, police scoured the place, didn t see any murder weapon lying around. and they were about ready to take dave s body off to the morgue when some instinct told the lead detective to look here. he cracked open the doors of the
mind you, by then jane had some powerful moral support from her old friend, helen. she rose that night. i mean, she didn t fall, she rose that night. and, you know, became a very strong, powerful woman and defended the life of her son. and then at last in january 2016, jane laut went on trial for murder. her friend, helen, sitting right behind her. do you think she ll go to jail? i don t. really? i don t. i absolutely do not. you believe the jury will believe her story? i do. and see it as a case of self-defense? i do. i believe that. i believe that. i sincerely believe her. i don t say that about many people. i sincerely believe her. do you usually get this personally invested in a case? i am always invested in my cases, yes. but do i care as much about clients like i do about jane laut? no, that s i would be lying
the police 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? no. 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 station to offer a more complete statement. it had been a perfectly normal evening, she said. they were in bed by 10:00. dave in the master bedroom, she in michael s room, where she often slept because dave had a bad back. and then it was about an hour later she said, about 11:00. dave came down the hall, she said, worried about the dog.
for the first time, dave threatened michael s 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 don t get any attention around here. nobody cares about me. jane put michael into bed, said bamieh, got into pajamas, herself, and waited for dave s anger to subside. but he wasn t calming down. so about 10:30 or 11:00, he comes out of the room, and he s upset and he s angry. and that s when she saw the gun, said bamieh. he s holding it and he starts talking about michael, how they don t respect him, and he s going to blow his f ing head off. he grabs her, throws her against the wall. she falls down. she kind of crawls backwards with her hands and feet like a crab walk towards the back door. somehow she gets him out on the
he d give you the shirt off his back. that s just the way he was. can you see him losing his temper at the woman he s married to and abusing her, hitting her? no. never. no. no. never. no, said the lauts. no, said the police. besides, they said maybe jane had quite another motive for killing dave laut. a financial one. coming up, borrowed money thousands and thousands of dollars. and even more money if dave was dead. sometimes she would say things like, i d be better off if dave wasn t around. when dateline continues. about a medication. .this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain. .and protect my joints from further damage. humira has been clinically studied for over 18 years. humira works by targeting and helping to. .block a specific source. .of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms.