Defense begins closing argument in Laut trial

The prosecution used symptoms of battered-woman syndrome and relied on 'inaccurate' statements from various law enforcement officials to try to prove its allegations that Jane Laut murdered her husband, the Oxnard woman's defense attorney said.

In his closing argument Wednesday during Laut's trial in Ventura County Superior Court, Ron Bamieh said Laut was not the 'sophisticated, Al Capone-like criminal' the prosecution has portrayed her as.

Bamieh said Senior Deputy District Attorney Rameen Minoui relied on testimony from what he called the 'Inaccurate Seven,' or seven members of the Oxnard Police Department, and a local forensic scientist who Bamieh said committed several key errors in the investigation and analysis.

These errors, Bamieh said, made 'Jane look cold and calculating. ... Jane is no longer a wife, mother and victim of abuse. The prosecution did this for one reason: They are trying to avoid the 'why.' '

The 'why,' Bamieh said, refers to the years of sexual, mental and physical abuse she endured during her 29-year marriage to her husband, Dave.

Laut, 58, faces a maximum of 50 years to life if she is convicted of a first-degree murder charge and a special allegation that she used a gun — a single-action Ruger revolver — to kill her husband in 2009. Jurors also could decide on lesser charges of second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter or find her not guilty.

Minoui said Laut took the revolver that was stored on top of a gun safe, lured her husband outside to the north side yard of the house and shot him from behind. Minoui said evidence showed she was either standing behind or a few feet above her husband as she unloaded six shots, including a fatal shot to the back of the head. He said she then hid the revolver in a grandfather clock in the house, changed her clothes, called 911 and fabricated a story of a prowler that she told police.

Dave Laut was 52 years old and Hueneme High School's athletic director at the time of his death. The former Olympic athlete had won a bronze medal in shot put in the 1984 summer games.

The question of who was in possession of the gun is a 'huge deal' in the case, Bamieh said.

Minoui argued that the gun was kept on a shelf on top of a gun safe, which was kept inside their son Michael's room. The prosecutor said the defendant took that gun from its holster, followed her husband to the north side yard of the house where there were no lights and started shooting.

Bamieh, however, said there was evidence Dave Laut kept that gun in a sock. He said testimony and photographs taken by defense investigator Eugene Thayer on Aug. 28, 2009, showed a white sock on his bed and gunshot residue on the bedsheets.

Bamieh said it was Dave Laut who on the night he was killed brought out the gun and threatened his wife, their two dogs and Michael, then 10.

'Once he is bringing the gun to the fight, this is no longer a murder case,' Bamieh said.

Bamieh said Minoui is banking that jurors would accept bias that law enforcement officials, given their title and profession, are infallible.

'These are people with professions we respect,' Bamieh said. 'Cases like this ... and make no mistake, this case is different from most ... there is scrutiny. ... But when we don't acknowledge the mistakes, it is worse.'

Bamieh said Sonia Sanchez, an Oxnard police homicide detective at the time of the slaying and now a district attorney investigator, is one of the 'Inaccurate Seven.' Sanchez testified she examined Jane Laut on Aug. 28, 2009.

Sanchez said she was '100 percent' sure she saw only two small contusions on Laut's upper inner arm. She testified that she noted the bruises on a report but did not take pictures. While Sanchez said it was 'good practice' to take pictures, she did not do so even though the camera was available, Bamieh said.

Bamieh said Jane Laut suffered injuries when she and her husband struggled on the ground and the gun went off.

'This was an intentional attempt to convince you that those injuries did not exist at the time Jane was in custody of the police,' Bamieh said to jurors. He added that the prosecution is trying to convince jurors that Jane Laut either gave herself those bruises after she left the police station on Aug. 28, 2009, or someone in his law firm gave her those injuries.

'Outrageous, in both regards ... to say we have a bruise-making factory at the back,' Bamieh said.

Bamieh said police officers Matthew Crenshaw and Jason Graham also provided inaccurate testimony.

Bamieh argued that a recording of Crenshaw and Graham, who responded to the Lauts' Raft Lane home, showed they moved Dave Laut's body. In the recording, Graham tells Crenshaw to 'just roll (Laut) over on his back.' Bamieh said there is noise of things being moved on the recording.

The question of whether the body was moved has been a contention in the case. The condition, location and position of the body could provide information about the chain of events on the deadly night.

Bamieh also said Kristin Rogahn, a forensic scientist at the Ventura County Sheriff's Office forensic sciences laboratory, erred in her analysis. Rogahn testified that blood on Dave Laut's right cheek was a 'projected pattern' caused by blood he possibly had exhaled. She also said the streak could have been caused by blood that 'flew through the air' or was 'back spatter' because of a gunshot impact 'or some similar mechanism.'

She testified that she believed the body was not moved.

Bamieh said Rogahn's theory did not make sense and she was 'caught off guard' when he asked her about that blood pattern on the dead man's cheek.

'It's absolutely ludicrous,' he said of Rogahn's analysis.

Bamieh also said Minoui's theory that Jane Laut used a law review article given to her by pathologist Katherine Emerick as a blueprint to get away with murder' was unbelievable.

During his closing statement Monday, Minoui said the 2010 article includes information of what factual evidence must be presented in a case claiming a battered-woman defense in a homicide. Minoui said the defendant was also 'coached' by Emerick and social worker and domestic-violence expert Gail Pincus — to craft her battered-woman defense.

'At some point, we have to acknowledge what this woman went through was real,' Bamieh said. 'When you take the symptoms (of battered-woman syndrome) and use it to prosecute the person who has been abused, it is wrong. That is the problem in this case.'

Bamieh also addressed Dave Laut's relationship with Michael. Bamieh said Michael, now 17, testified he did not have a good relationship with his father. He said the teen even changed his last name to his mother's maiden name, Laubacher.

Minoui on Tuesday showed jurors Dave Laut's wallet, which included various pictures of his son. Pictures of a smiling Michael and the whole family together were projected onto a large screen in the courtroom.

'Does any of that scream, 'I hate my son?' ' Minoui asked jurors.

Bamieh, however, said those pictures did not provide a true glimpse into what was really happening in the Laut household.

He said, 'If that is the case, I guess this is a great dad and ideal husband also.'

Bamieh then put up a picture on the projector of O.J. Simpson with Nicole Brown Simpson and their two young children.

Before Bamieh launched into his summation, Minoui wrapped up his closing argument Wednesday by asking jurors to consider the 'straightforward truth' in the case. He said Jane Laut planned and executed her husband, placing the muzzle of the gun 4 to 6 feet away as she shot her husband of 29 years.

'There is only one true verdict in this case based on the defendant's actions,' Minoui said. 'It was the defendant's choice on August 2009 ... that brought us together ... and shows nothing other than first-degree murder.'

Bamieh will continue his closing argument at 9 a.m. Thursday and Minoui will provide his rebuttal.