A jury on Tuesday convicted an actor who played a police officer on TV of second-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife that was partially witnessed by their two young sons.
The verdict in the trial of Michael Jace, who appeared on the FX series “The Shield,” came after a weeklong trial in which Los Angeles jurors were told the actor shot his wife, April, in the back and then twice in the legs with a revolver that belonged to her father.
Jace, 53, did not testify in his own defense. He told detectives soon after the attack that he had retrieved the gun to kill himself but couldn’t do it. Instead, he planned to shoot his wife, an avid runner, in the leg so she would feel pain, Jace said in a recorded interview.
Deputy District Attorney Tannaz Mokayef told jurors the actor was waiting for his wife, shot her in the back and taunted her before shooting each of her legs.
Jace’s 10-year-old son testified that he heard his father say, “‘If you like running, then run to heaven,'” before firing the second time.
Savoy Brown, an adult son of April Jace, said the family was pleased with the verdict. He said watching Michael Jace has been difficult for the family, and he is hoping the actor, who bit his bottom lip when the verdict was read but showed no other emotion, will show his feelings when he is sentenced.
“I’d just like to see the sadness on his face, that he realized it because it seems every now and then, there’s moments of sadness and there’s moments of not,” Brown said after the verdict. “And those moments of not really get me questioning, you know, how can you go that far? How can you say those words? How can you do that?”
Mokayef said the potential sentence would be 40 years to life in prison when Jace is sentenced on June 10.
She said during the trial that the actor was upset that his wife wanted a divorce and believed she was having an affair, although no evidence was presented during the trial that she was cheating.
Jace’s attorney, Jamon Hicks, said his client is remorseful for killing his wife. The actor may speak during his sentencing hearing to express his remorse, but he wants to be respectful of April Jace’s family, the lawyer said.
Hicks previously told jurors the actor accepted responsibility for killing his wife, but he should be convicted of voluntary manslaughter because he shot her in the heat of passion.
Jace turned himself in to police after the shooting and has been jailed since.
April Jace, 40, was a financial aid counselor at Biola University. She was married to Michael Jace for nine years and they had two sons, who were 8 and 5 at the time of her death.
Michael Jace had small roles in films such as “Planet of the Apes,” ”Boogie Nights” and “Forrest Gump.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
This is another example of a typical Black Male like OJ Simpson…..No or Low emotional IQ…….No skills at communciation, negotiations and resolve, just silence and rage, the two forms of expressions……
SO?!!! What else is new … I am not a bit surprise. Most of these people did not get completely assimilated.
This guy murdered his wife. He deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison.
How will “Black Lives Matter” handle this? Will they be upset because a black woman was ruthlessly murdered or will they be upset that a black man is facing serious jail time because he is a black man who did little more than assassinate his wife? This is an attempt to show the moronic view of the “Black Lives Matter” movement! The truth appears to be that only black criminals who are killed by men in blue in the line of duty should be punished in the distorted, illogical view of the “Black Lives Matter” people.
Thank God that we do not have Sharia Law since any man who kills his wife or child and claims Islam as his religion has the legal right to do that for the simplest of motives.
He should be executed for 1st degree murder. What’s this bullshit of 2nd degree? And I dont give a fuck what color he or the wife is.
Let America go back to God. This country was founded on God, fear of God and love of neighbour. When you reject God, you are exposed to reprobate mind. Jesus summarised the 10 Commandments to just two laws. LOVE YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART. & LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF. So sad that those children will lack both parental care but law must take its course. So sad man, you behaved badly. If it were in my country Nigeria, you would be killed for murder and not sent to good American prison where you would be watching television and eating chicken with taxpayers money. May God forgive you so you don’t rot in hell.
No one is stopping america from going back to GOD. People are just not doing it! And having an important figure like omama catering to the lgbt community and making up laws for them to jump and holler doesn’t help any. That is just an example of where people give up and just don’t care anymore and all because there are those that don’t live by GODS teachings!
THE Lord God will take care of this in the end also or before, when we have the warning and miracle…..