New attorney hired to appeal conviction in killing of intruder

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2000 | 10:11 a.m.

A court challenge to the conviction of Thomas Gaule for gunning down an intruder at his home has been postponed until March because he has hired a new lawyer.

Veteran attorney John Fadgen will now represent Gaule not only on the motion to overturn the conviction for voluntary manslaughter with the use of a deadly weapon, but also for his sentencing if his motion is not granted.

District Judge Mark Gibbons said Monday he will hear arguments on the motions on March 6, the same day the sentencing is scheduled.

Gaule, 43, has been unhappy with his lawyer ever since a jury convicted him on Dec. 30 of the crime that could put him in prison for eight to 20 years.

Gaule could also get probation. That is what he would have received had he accepted a plea bargain that was offered before the trial.

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

They said they didn't believe Gaule's story that the shots he fired at two intruders were merely warning shots that somehow hit the men -- Jason Lamb and Rick Tripp.

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

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

The motion to overturn the conviction and dismiss the charges contends the shot that killed Tripp was fired while he was still on Gaule's property and, in fact, was the same shotgun slug that first passed through Lamb, killing him.

The medical examiner in the case, Dr. Lary Simms, did not dispute that was a possibility. But he testified that the fatal slug in Tripp's case ripped through his back and destroyed a lung as it passed through his body.

Jurors said after the verdict that they did not believe Tripp was fatally wounded until he was shot hundreds of feet from Gaule's home as he fled to his car.

Tripp also was hit in the back by birdshot, and a buckshot pellet from another shot hit him in an arm, according to trial testimony.

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

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. But Gaule managed to get away, grab his shotgun and open fire.

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.