Friday, 23 May 2014
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Actor Michael Jace has been formally
charged with one count of murder with a gun in the shooting death of his wife,
the prosecutor's spokeswoman said Thursday.
April Jace, 40, died from
"multiple gunshot wounds," according to preliminary autopsy results.
The death was ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles County coroner, Deputy Chief
Coroner Ed Winter said.
Jace, 51, made his first
appearance in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday afternoon. Bail was set at $2
million, and his arraignment was continued until June 18 at the defense's
request.
"He's doing as well as
somebody who is in custody," said Jason Sias, Jace's lawyer. "It's
emotional. He wants to see this through. He's just thinking about his
children."
Los Angeles police detectives
presented their evidence against Jace, who played a Los Angeles cop in TV's
"The Shield," to the district attorney Thursday morning, according to
spokeswoman Jane Robison.
Police found April Jace shot to
death in her south Los Angeles home Monday night, Det. Lyman Doster said.
Michael Jace called 911 to report
that his wife had been shot, Det. Dean Vinluan said, adding that he "was
on the phone with the operator." Neighbors who heard gunshots also called
911, he said.
"At this moment, the motive
of the murder is believed to be domestic violence," a police statement
this week said.
Investigators detained Jace at
the couple's Hyde Park-area home Monday night and booked the actor on a
homicide charge early Tuesday, according to Doster.
Two children were in the home
when their mother was shot, Vinluan said. The children, whose ages he would not
reveal, were taken to a police station and then handed over to a representative
of California's Department of Children and Family Services, he said.
Investigators have found no
reports of domestic violence between the husband and wife at their south Los
Angeles residence, another LAPD detective said.
A woman described as a close
friend of Jace's first wife said in a sworn statement that she witnessed Jace
physically abusing his wife in 1997. The declaration was in court records from
Jace's 2005 custody case concerning his son with Jennifer Bitterman.
Jace "choked and hit"
his wife and "slammed her against the wall while (their infant son)
screamed in his crib next to her," Maria De Le Vegas said in the sworn
declaration obtained by CNN.
Jace "was raging and out of
control, and seeing the extent of his anger was one of the most terrifying
things I have ever seen," she said.
Jace appeared to be suffering
severe financial strain in recent years, according to court documents obtained
by CNN. The actor filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in March 2011, citing
$500,000 in debts and an annual income of around $80,000 from residuals from
his TV and film work, the documents said.
Jace had defaulted on the $411,000
mortgage on the south Los Angeles home where his wife died, according to the
documents.
He married April Jace in June
2003, a year after divorcing his first wife, with whom he shared a son who is
now a teen.
The FX police drama "The
Shield" was the biggest and longest-running role in Jace's 22-year acting
career. He appeared in 89 episodes as Julien Lowe, who started as a rookie
officer in an inner-city Los Angeles police precinct in 2002 and rose through
the ranks to become a detective before the series ended in 2008, according to
the Internet Movie Database.
He acted on several episodes of
"Southland," another TV drama about Los Angeles police, between 2009
and 2012.
Jace often played a law
enforcement or military officer on television shows. He is credited with roles
in "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Private Practice,"
"The Mentalist," "Burn Notice" and "NYPD Blue."
He had the title role of Michael
Jordan in the 1999 TV movie about the NBA star, "Michael Jordan: An
American Hero."
Jace played Officer Brown in
Russell Crowe's 2009 film "State of Play," and he portrayed a Black
Panther member in the 1994 blockbuster movie "Forrest Gump."
April Jace had worked for the
past year as a financial aid counselor at Biola University, a private school in
La Mirada, California, according to the school.
"We are obviously shocked
and saddened by this terrible news, to lose a wonderful colleague, mother and
friend," Biola President Barry Corey said in a written statement.
"April's radiant personality
brought great energy to the financial aid office," financial aid director
Geoff Marsh said. "Her love for helping students and families and her
great work ethic earned the respect and love of her coworkers. Her smiling face
and helpful spirit will be missed by all."
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