Jurors left no doubt in intruder’s killing

Bill Gang

Monday, Jan. 3, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

Thomas Gaule, who was exonerated in the shooting death of one intruder in his home, will be sentenced March 6 after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the death of a second intruder whose body was found 500 feet from Gaule's house.

A plea bargain had been offered to Gaule that would have guaranteed the 43-year-old man probation.

He rejected the offer, and a District Court jury convicted him of voluntary manslaughter with the use of a deadly weapon. Probation is an option, but he could also get an eight- to 20-year sentence.

Jurors said it was Gaule's own testimony from the witness stand that convinced them of his guilt.

The jury in District Judge Joseph Bonaventure's courtroom took just over an hour to reach its verdict Thursday in what was the last jury trial of the year in Clark County.

Jurors, speaking to the judge and attorneys after the verdict, said they simply didn't buy Gaule's story that the shots he fired at two intruders were warning shots that somehow hit the men -- Jason Lamb and Rick Tripp.

"You don't fire warning shots but hit him," a juror said.

Lamb died just outside Gaule's home and no charges resulted from that death because a Clark County grand jury had determined he was defending his house and himself.

But Gaule chased Tripp down the street and shot him twice in the back. He died 500 feet from Gaule's house.

Jurors also said they rejected Gaule's claim that he was chasing Tripp to apprehend him for the police, noting that after Tripp fell to the pavement, Gaule simply walked back to his house.

"He hurt himself," one juror said. "He was very vague and everyone else was wrong. He couldn't explain why he left."

"I was as honest as I possibly could be," Gaule said after the verdict. "I wanted to get things out in the open.

"It was self defense," he said. "I don't know how they came to this conclusion. I tried the best I could to tell the truth. It's a sad situation. My life's ruined now."

One juror said the jury agreed that a reasonable person would have stopped at the driveway rather than pursuing the fleeing burglar.

The consensus was that what while many jurors may have felt the same way they believed Gaule did in wanting to pursue and punish those who had victimized him, they decided Gaule crossed the legal line.

Tripp and Lamb were in Gaule's house and surprised him when he returned home on the morning of Oct. 25, 1998.

The pair zapped Gaule with newly purchased stun guns and beat him, according to court records. But Gaule managed to get away, grab his shotgun and open fire.

Both men were wounded at the house and Lamb died of a massive chest wound. Tripp ran with Gaule in pursuit. Neighbors testified the robber was yelling, "No," at Gaule before the fatal shots were fired.

There were hints by Deputy District Attorney Bill Koot that Gaule knew Tripp and may have owed him money for cleanup work around the house in the 400 block of Lakehurst Road, near Alta and Buffalo drives.

Koot said the verdict "tightens the envelope and sets the community standards" about the use of deadly force.

"Here we had a victim who was truly injured, but there is still a line that has to be drawn," he said.

"At the office we said that if the verdict was not guilty, it would give the prosecution one heck of a lot of discretion," Koot continued. "We may never have approved this type of case again."