Former Olympian’s wife arrested for her husband’s murder

The wife of an Oympic shot put medalist gunned down in the backyard of his Oxnard home last summer will appear in court Tuesday in connection with the slaying.

Jane Laut, 52, was detained during a traffic stop Saturday morning on a warrant issued earlier in the week, Oxnard police said in a statement. She is being held on $3 million bail.

Lead prosecutor Bill Haney says he intends to file murder and firearms charges against Laut in Ventura Superior Court.

Her husband David Laut, also 52, was shot multiple times in the head on the night of August 28 in the backyard of their home.

He was declared dead at the scene.

Her lawyer Ron Bamieh says on Aug. 27, 2009, she wrestled a gun from her husband and shot him in “self defense” after he became drunk and said he was going to kill their 10-year-old son, their dogs, then her.

“She was left with no choice but to defend herself and her child with that gun,” Bamieh told the Ventura County Star. “It’s not a question of who the shooter was, it’s a question of the intent of the shooter.”

But Jane Laut’s current story isn’t quite the same as the story she told police a year ago. Back then she told investigators she heard shots fired after her husband when to the backyard to investigate suspicious sounds. Police initially said Dave Laut may have been killed by prowlers.

Police initially believed David Laut may have been killed by would-be intruders, but a few days later they determined the killing was not random.

Jane Laut’s attorney, Ron Bamieh, has called it a “self-defense case,” apparently contradicting police reports of her statements at the time of the killing.

David Laut had worked for 10 years as a track coach and athletic director at Oxnard’s Hueneme High School.

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.