Tuesday, April 2, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Janice Gail Parker, 39, broke into sobs and hugged her attorney as the verdict exonerating her for the fatal shooting of Ken Newman was read on Monday.
The Sept. 19 shooting took place at the couple's remote trailer home in the Pine Nut Mountains southeast of Gardnerville.
Parker claimed the shooting was in self defense.
In her closing argument to the six-man, six-woman jury, Deputy District Attorney Dina Salvucci argued Parker only shot Newman because he was mistreating her dog.
"She said she was hoping he'd focus on her and leave the dog alone," Salvucci said, referring to an interview Parker gave to authorities hours after the killing.
But Parker's lawyer, Nathan Tod Young, countered that Parker feared for her life after Newman pulled hair from her head and bit through her lip when he came home angry and drunk.
"No matter what you heard, this was not about a dog," Young told jurors. "This is about a man who was drunk, violent and unpredictable.
"Jan shot him because she had nothing else to do," he continued. "There was no help coming and nowhere to go."
Autopsy reports showed Newman had a blood alcohol content of 0.19 at the time of his death.
Witnesses and Parker also testified that Newman had abused her before, and once separated her collar bone.
Parker thanked jurors as they left the courtroom.
She said she hopes to put the incident behind her and go to college.
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