Thomas Gaule gets former attorney for sentencing

Kim Smith

Tuesday, March 7, 2000 | 10:41 a.m.

A Las Vegas man convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of of a home invader is being represented again by the attorney who defended him at trial.

District Judge Mark Gibbons granted defense attorney John Fadgen's request to withdraw from Thomas Gaule's case on Monday and reappointed attorney Peter Christiansen over the objections of Gaule.

After his trial Gaule had requested that Christiansen, his court-appointed attorney, be replaced and he was, by Fadgen. But when Gaule began filing his own motions, Fadgen asked to withdraw from the case, citing "irreconcilable differences."

Gaule objected to Christiansen being re-appointed to the case, saying that former District Judge Donald Chairez had agreed to represent him. At that point, Deputy District Attorney William Koot, who prosecuted Gaule, told Gibbons that he ran into Chairez in the hallway and was told that he is not on the case.

Gaule then said he wanted to "object on the record" to Koot's "interference" with his lawyer.

Gibbons scheduled Gaule's sentencing for April 4. He could receive as little as probation or as much as 20 years in prison. During his trial, Gaule refused a plea agreement in which he would have been guaranteed probation.

Gaule had been convicted of manslaughter in the death of one of two men he said broke into his home and attacked him with their fists and stun guns.

Sometime during the attack, Gaule, 35, was able to get his shotgun, prompting the two men -- Rick Tripp and Jason Lamb -- to try to run through the front door.

Koot argued at trial that Gaule was within his rights when he shot and killed Lamb, but when he opted to chase Tripp 500 feet down the street and fired a sixth and fatal shot into his back, Gaule went too far.

A Clark County grand jury agreed and indicted Gaule on a voluntary manslaughter charge in Tripp's death, later a jury convicted Gaule on the same charge.