| WILLIAM GAIN Laci's First Love ********* Defense: If injury wasn't bad, murder wasn't attempted By Travis Baker , SUN Staff A .44-caliber bullet fired into a person's back at point-blank range doesn't necessarily constitute attempted murder if the wounded victim escapes serious injury. That theory will be explored by the lawyer for William Gain, 26, who is accused of the attempted murder and first-degree assault of his girlfriend, Grace Ho, in their Port Orchard home on Jan. 17. David Skeen, a former Jefferson County prosecutor hired by Gain, said the outcome of plastic surgery Ho will undergo this summer could help exonerate his client. Without conceeding that Gain pulled the trigger, Skeen argues that the definition of attempted murder requires that the victim suffer some kind of permanent or life-threatening injury or disfigurement from the attack. Ho was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, but the bullet hadn't done a lot of damage. Gain and Skeen appeared in Kitsap County Superior Court Monday in a pretrial hearing into the admissibility of what Gain told police the night of his arrest, and whether police had permission to search the Maple Street home the couple had shared until the shooting. Gain has been in jail since Jan. 17 and probably won't be released before trial. Nonetheless, he is willing to push the trial date back to October to see how Ho's surgery comes out, Skeen said. Deputy Prosecutor Andy Anderson said Skeen is wrong in his theory. "Because the track of the bullet missed all vital organs doesn't exempt him. ... I don't think the quality of medical care you receive affects the degree of the crime," Anderson said. The intent, not the outcome, supports the charge, he said. Gain came home Jan. 17 from a Monster Truck show at the Tacoma Dome, said his companion that day, Edward Ahl. Gain was sufficiently drunk that Ahl declined an offer to stay for dinner. Skeen's questioning of Ahl and other witnesses in Monday's hearing suggested that he will assert that his client was too drunk to waive his rights in talking to police that night. The hearing will continue June 4. Ho will fly here from the San Francisco Bay area to testify about giving police permission for the search. Skeen also said he will move for dismissal of the charges against Gain, using the theory that Ho wasn't hurt badly enough for it to be attempted murder. Anderson said he has two witnesses who will say Gain planned to shoot Ho and talked of it before Jan. 17. Published in The SUN: 05/18/1999 ************** RELATED STORY 1 - Laci's Ex-Beau Shot his GirlFriend RELATED STORY 2 -Laci's Family and Friends Shocked HOME INDEX LACI CONNER SCOTT AMBER WIRETAPS ALIBI-WITNESS LIST EVIDENCE-NEWS AUTOPSY REPORTS |
| LACI & CONNER FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS |