Wife claims abuse led her to kill Olympian husband

[FreakinDJ]

Wife claims abuse led her to kill Olympian husband

OXNARD, Calif. – Dave Laut was the idolized local boy who did his hometown and nation proud.

A stellar shot-putter who scored a bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics, Laut married his high school sweetheart, Jane, settled down in the coastal community where he was raised and trained others to follow in his footsteps on the athletic field.

So when Laut, 52, was gunned down in his backyard in August by a possible prowler, hundreds of people paid homage at a memorial service where he was described as a gentle giant.

In recent days, however, a darker portrait has emerged of what happened at the Laut home. His wife was arrested and charged Tuesday with his murder and her lawyer claimed it was to protect herself after abuse for much of their 29-year marriage.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100222/ap_on_sp_ot/us_olympian_killed

Why is it they only claim abuse AFTER they get caught

[secondwind]

1. you would need to understand the domestic violence mentality, before asking that question.

It is a "syndrome", I used to counsel DV victims. The mental and sometimes physical abuse by someone you love eventually erodes all your self-esteem, self confidence, and it saps your strength to fight back.

The men who perpetrate domestic violence do so in repeating "cycles".....violence, sad and teary "I'm sorry, it won't happen again", escalating tension, then violence again, and repeat.

That is why we need to teach our daughters that once you are HIT by the one you love, there is nowhere to go but downward into the domestic violence cycle.

[FreakinDJ]

2. If her motivation was actually for her safety why didn't she say so

Sorry - just not buying into the 6 months after the fact "He abused me".

I think the current meme has declared "open season on husbands"

[Zoeisright]

8. Uh huh.

NOT. Domestic violence is almost 93% men against women.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1247

"Those who equate domestic violence against men with that against women either ignore or dismiss the results of the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, which found that 92 percent of those who report being assaulted by an intimate partner are female. They also brush off reports from emergency rooms, where 90 percent of the victims of domestic violence are women."

Being killed by the father of the child is the #1 cause of death for pregnant women.

Just 2.5% of men who are killed are by an intimate partner.

More than 32% of women who are murdered are killed by an intimate partner.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/411212

http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2009/05/14/top-cause-of-death-for-pregnant-women-is-murder.aspx

http://wjz.com/local/body.found.forestville.2.1009856.html

Do YOU have any links to support your assertion?

:crickets:

Thought not.

[FreakinDJ]

9. Does she have any hospital reports

doctors reports of bruises - police reports of abuse to support her claims of 29 years of violence. It didn't mention any in the article - I'm just wondering out loud

So why LIE to authorities for 6 months if she was motivated by fear or the need to protect Michale as the story claims.

Why the the execution style killing

Sorry it just doesn't add up

[LeftyMom]

11. Abuse victims conceal abuse, because reporting makes it worse.

The only two hospital/police records of the abuse I received from my ex involve his attempts on my life after I left him. I didn't report anything else, including the rape, because I knew it would just serve to make my life worse as long as the relationship persisted.

[FreakinDJ]

12. Wouldn't concealing a Murder weigh Heavy on you

I mean it must have been nerve racking to the point of a break down

Police asking questions on a daily basis, an outline of your dead husband's body on the back porch, the home, family torn up by turmoil, and all the while 100s of people looking for this fictional killer / intruder, while she knew it was her all a long. - I simply can't imagine

You would think she would walk in and confess just for some relief.

Nope it just doesn't add up for me - and better yet the husband is dead so she is free to say any thing she wants without rebuttal. If the ain't no reports it never happened

[LeftyMom]

13. "If the ain't no reports it never happened" BULLSHIT.

Bull fucking shit. I'm sorry, but you don't get to explain to me how abuse victims think and feel. I already know.

[FreakinDJ]

17. Yep - BULLSHIT

[Lance_Boyle]

3. Or maybe you'd just need to understand that the excuse sometimes wrongfully exhonerates murderers.

Like the murderer in TN a few years ago who killed her husband and got off claiming abuse - she should be rotting in prison now.

[FreakinDJ]

6. Yep - so grief stricken she lied to authorities for 6 months

Sorry does not compute, does not compute

[surrealAmerican]

7. I don't know whether this woman was abused or not ...

... but if she was, she had likely been lying about it for many years. I'm not sure we would expect her to suddenly admit she had been abused just because she had killed her abuser.

[Uben]

4. You nailed it!

Men who beat women are cowards. Every one of them, no exceptions.

[Urban Prairie]

5. I know from personal experience

That it is not always men who perpetrate DV. So does my neighbor, whose gf later became addicted to crack, then ultimately ended her life, leaving him with a young boy born out of wedlock. He also spent a little time in prison, because some cops don't believe that a woman can cause a man mental anguish and physical pain.

[Mopar151]

10. You need to read a new-ish book.

Odd Girl Out, by Rachel Simmons
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51krkLJssTL._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA115_.jpg

Link to excerpt:http://www.amazon.com/reader/0156027348?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=sib_aps_sup&qid=1266853374&page=random#reader_0156027348

The thing is, women's agression works differently than men's. I beleive that some of co-dependence stems from these issues. I'm not letting men off the hook - if you are the physically stronger, larger partner in a relationship, you have an obligation to protect your partner - even if it is from yourself! But that should go 2 ways in a relationship - and it often does not.

[951-Riverside]

14. Well, thats good enough for me.

Case closed.
Problem solved.
Not Guilty.

:eyes:

[justanaverageguy]

15. My 2 cents worth as a man on this issue

I get that being beat and verbally abused on a regular basis can really get someone to a place mentally that they want to kill the abuser and because of the nature of the relationship it may have to be done at a time when the abuser is most vulnerable (asleep or something like that). Unless the victim, usually a woman, is in eminent danger of bodily harm or death, she does not have the right to sentence her abuser to death for past abuses. I have no problem with the syndrome being taken into consideration during the penalty phase of a criminal proceeding, I do not believe that it should be a defense in the proceeding. To wit: It's acceptable for a judge/jury to not give the person found guilty the death penalty because she was abused by the victim. But it is not acceptable to say that the woman is not guilty of the crime because of the abuse and that she therefore suffered from "battered woman syndrome".

It was ironic to me when I took a Criminal Law class how many people who were otherwise against the death penalty, were perfectly comfortable to exonerate an abused woman of murder who shot her abusive husband while he slept.

[Tailormyst]

16. Your question shows you need to read up on abuse victims more.

I don't mean that as a slam. Many people think the way you do. They just don't understand the nature of spousal abuse.

She may be an abuse wife or she may be a murderer or she might be both.