Marvel "Shield" Actor, Michael Jace, Convicted Of Second-Degree Murder Shamika Sanders, Entertainment Editor
Follow me on Instagram & Twitter @Shamika_Sanders. This R&B head and Journalism major has written for King and Giant magazine. When she isn't holding a pen she's coming up with ways to "take over the world"...
After a week of deliberating, a Los Angeles jury found former The Shield actor Michael Jace guilty second degree murder in the shooting death of his wife April Jace.
Michael Jace shot his wife in the back and taunted her before shooting her twice in the legs with her fathers revolver. According to recorded interview with detectives, Michael said, he wanted to take his own life but, instead, shot his wife, a runner, in the legs so she could feel pain.
Jaces children were partial witnesses to the crime. Their 10-year-old son testified that he heard his father say If you like running, then run to heaven, before shooting April a second time.
Apparently April wanted a divorce and Michael suspected her of cheating. Deputy Dist. Atty. Tannaz Mokayef said Michael showed little emotion at the time of the verdict but felt remorse for killing his wife.
This is such a heartbreaking tragedy. Our prayers are with the family.
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Actor Michael Jace deliberately loaded a gun, murdered his wife in cold blood and then lied when he claimed he only intended to shoot her in the leg, a prosecutor said in a fiery closing argument Friday.
I dont know how you can shoot somebody three times and call it an accident, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Tannaz Mokayef told jurors at the close of Jaces four-day trial for first-degree murder in Los Angeles.
The actor best known for playing a cop on the FX show The Shield sat stone-faced as Mokayef told the jury of six men and six women he shot wife April Jace three times in May 2014 with both malice and reflection.
Do you remember the ballistics expert (explaining) how heavy that trigger pull was? Like holding a gallon of milk with one finger. Each pull of the trigger is a reflection, each pull of the trigger is a thought, she said.
Michael Jace told wife to "run to heaven" after killing her: DA
She said Jace even admitted malice when he claimed to police, I was just angry and all I intended to do was shoot her in the leg.
She reminded jurors the couples own 10-year-old son recalled on the witness stand that he heard Jace say, You like to run, why dont you run to heaven, as he shot his running enthusiast wife twice in the legs after previously shooting her in the back.
Jace was upset because April, 40, had asked for a divorce, Mokayef said.
This is about control and obsession, the prosecutor said. When she finally says, No more, I have to get out of this. He kills her.
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Jace, 53, is facing 50 years to life if convicted of first-degree murder.
His lawyers havent disputed Jace pulled the trigger but want the jury to choose a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
Defense lawyer Jamon Hicks said Friday that his client simply snapped in the heat of passion.
Text messages and testimony during the four-day trial revealed Jace was upset about his crumbling marriage and believed April was having an affair.
In her emotional closing argument, Mokayef again showed the graphic photo of Aprils lifeless body on the floor of the couples house after she was declared dead at the scene.
She said April was shot at such close range, death investigators found gunpowder where the bullets hit her legs.
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