Wife of Murdered Olympic Medalist Arrested

OXNARD, Calif. – The wife of an Olympic shot put medalist gunned down in his Southern California back yard last summer was arrested Saturday in the homicide case, authorities said.

Jane Laut, 52, was detained during a traffic stop Saturday morning on a warrant issued earlier in the week, Oxnard police said in a written statement.

Her husband David Laut, who won a bronze medal in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, was shot several times in the head on the night of Aug. 28 in their yard in Oxnard, a coastal city 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles. He was declared dead at the scene.

Jane Laut's attorney called it a "self-defense case," apparently contradicting police reports of her statements at the time of the killing.

Jane Laut had told investigators immediately after the shooting that he went to the backyard to check out suspicious sounds, and she heard shots fired, police said. Police initially said Laut may have been killed by prowlers, but a few days later said the killing was not random.

She was being held on $3 million bail in Ventura County Jail.

Defense lawyer Ron Bamieh said he had hoped authorities "had realized that it was a self-defense case."

Bamieh, who was hired by Jane Laut shortly after the killing, told the Ventura County Star after the arrest that she wrestled the gun from an abusive husband after he became intoxicated and said he was going to kill her after he killed their 10-year-old son and their dogs.

"She was left with no choice but to defend herself and her child with that gun," Bamieh told the newspaper. "It's not a question of who the shooter was, it's a question of the intent of the shooter."

The statement said police had been working closely with the district attorney's office on the case since the killing. Jane Laut was not publicly named as a suspect until Saturday.

Bamieh also works as an attorney for the Star. A phone message left at his office Saturday by The Associated Press wasn't immediately returned.

Oxnard police would release no further information on the investigation beyond the arrest.

David Laut had worked for 10 years as a track coach and athletic director at Oxnard's Hueneme High School when he was killed at age 52.

Born in Ohio and raised in Southern California, Laut won two NCAA titles at UCLA and a gold medal at the 1979 Pan American Games.

Laut was favored to win gold at the 1984 Olympics after throwing 70 feet, 10 inches at the U.S. Olympic Trials. He won the bronze instead with a mark of 68 feet, 9 3/4 inches on his final attempt at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

In 1985, he was still ranked the No. 7 shot-putter in the world and the No. 1 American. But the following year he tore tendons in both knees during an agility test to become a fireman, and failed to make the 1988 Olympic team.

He and Jane Laut had been married 29 years.