Olympic shot-putter’s wife held in his fatal shooting in Oxnard

When former Olympic shot-putter David Laut was gunned down outside his Oxnard home last year, his wife told police he was killed by prowlers.

But the case took a surprising twist over the weekend when Jane Laut was arrested on suspicion of shooting her husband, and her attorney alleged that she had been a longtime victim of domestic abuse.

Jane Laut, 52, was taken into custody Saturday and remains in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $3-million bond, said her attorney, Ron Bamieh. The Ventura County district attorney’s office is preparing to charge her with murder and firearms charges this week, said Bill Haney, the lead prosecutor.

“Oxnard police did a thorough investigation, and based on what they uncovered I’m satisfied this is not a case of self-defense,” Haney said Monday. “A murder charge as opposed to a lesser charge of manslaughter is appropriate.”

David Laut, 52, who won a bronze medal in the shot put at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, was shot multiple times outside his home about midnight Aug. 27.

Jane Laut initially told police that the couple heard noises in the backyard and that her husband was slain when he went to investigate.

In a statement issued after Jane Laut’s arrest, her attorney acknowledged that his client was the shooter. He said she killed her husband in self-defense during a violent argument in which an intoxicated David Laut threatened to shoot her, their 10-year-old son and their two dogs.

Jane Laut was able to wrestle the gun away when the fight moved to their back patio and David Laut lost his balance, Bamieh said. One shot was fired during the struggle, the attorney said, and as David Laut was getting back up, Jane Laut “emptied the gun.”

Bamieh said David Laut had physically abused his wife throughout their 29-year-marriage. His alcoholism was well known to friends, the attorney said, but fewer people were aware that he abused his wife and sometimes threatened and ridiculed their son, Michael, whom the couple had adopted from China. Michael Laut is being cared for by Jane Laut’s brother, Bamieh said.

Jane Laut first blamed her husband’s killing on prowlers because she had been conditioned for years to cover up the true state of their marriage, Bamieh said. When she came to his office the day after David Laut’s killing, Bamieh said he photographed bruises up and down her arms.

Bamieh said his investigators found many friends and relatives of the couple who can corroborate David Laut’s excessive drinking, his moodiness and his attempts to isolate his wife from her family. Haney, the prosecutor, said the police investigation did not turn up any evidence of previous domestic abuse.

The defense attorney’s portrait of David Laut contrasts sharply with depictions of him as a “gentle giant” following his death.

Friends and former competitors praised him as a man of honor and integrity, and a world-class athlete who returned to his humble Oxnard roots to teach.

Jane Laut took care of their modest home, where they had lived for nearly two decades. She had no job skills and no sources of income other than her husband’s work as an athletic director at Hueneme High School, Bamieh said. Both were raised in Oxnard. Jane Laut comes from a prominent Oxnard ranching family, the Laubachers.

catherine.saillant @latimes.com