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Marietta woman on trial for attempted murder

Defense says Ames’s husband threatened her

GE

A Marietta woman on trial for the attempted murder of her husband may have pulled the trigger, but her defense attorney said it was because her husband threatened her.

The trial of Michelle Ames, 42, of 141 Franklin St., began Tuesday morning in the courtroom of Washington County Common Pleas Judge Randall Burnworth. Ames shot at her husband, Richard, after a domestic dispute on Oct. 29, 2018.

She was indicted in February on one first-degree count of attempted murder; one count of attempted voluntary manslaughter and one count of felonious assault, both second-degree felonies; and one count of aggravated assault, a fourth-degree felony.

Ray Smith, Ames’ attorney, said this is a unique case as the accused is normally the abuser in the relationship.

“She’s a victim of domestic violence,” Smith said in his opening statement. “He was a very controlling person.”

The evening of the incident, Richard had a Glock .45 caliber handgun and Michelle was afraid he was going to shoot himself, Smith said.

“I’m contemplating putting one in you, (expletive). You’re going to go, then I’m going to go,” Richard allegedly said, according to Smith.

After Richard allegedly threatened her, Michelle took their three children and went to the home of Larry Haught on Dodd Run Road in Warren Township. Smith said their shared car had a tracker that showed Richard where Michelle went when she left the house. Richard’s truck had a camera on the front, which the defense believes was used to record the events at Haught’s residence.

Richard then went to Haught’s home, where he allegedly started pounding on the door, demanding the return of his children, Smith said.

As Richard attempted to leave, he put his truck in a ditch across from Haught’s home. When he finally got his truck free, he still refused to leave, Smith said, adding Haught smashed in the passenger window of Richard’s truck trying to get him to leave.

“Michelle had a gun because of the threat,” he said. “She showed him the gun to get him to leave.”

One of Michelle’s acquaintances, Russell McCabe, came to pick her up and they left for his house, where they called 911. She admitted to police she shot the gun, hitting the truck.

However, in opening statements from Washington County Prosecutor Nicole Coil explained that after a mutual fight, Richard put his gun away while Michelle did not and that she fired when he was trying to leave.

Coil said they started arguing earlier that evening when Michelle returned to their home.

“She met him in the driveway and the argument went into the house, where they assaulted each other,” she said.

Coil said Michelle didn’t try to calm Richard down or try to remove the children from the house during the argument. Instead, she dared Richard to shoot her.

“She was not a meek or weak woman,” Coil said. “This was not a happy or healthy marriage. This was more violent and troubling than normal marital spats.”

She said Richard didn’t shoot anyone, instead putting the gun away, but Michelle decided to do the opposite.

“After the confrontation, they separated, but three hours later, Michelle left home and went to the home of the man she was allegedly having an affair with, Larry Haught,” Coil said. “She took a loaded gun with her.”

She said when Richard went to Haught’s trailer and saw the gun, he walked away.

“She was not in danger,” Coil said. “She decided to escalate matters and walked away from the zone of safety of the trailer. She walked with the gun outstretched in front of her and told him to leave.”

She said Michelle then discharged the weapon in his direction.

“She does not deny shooting the gun,” Coil said, adding the bullet not only struck the passenger side of the truck, it went through the passenger side window and exited the driver’s side window.

“It was 12 inches from his head,” she said. “He thought he had been shot because of the glass from the window breaking.”

She said there was no disputing the couple had a fight earlier in the day and that Richard followed Michelle to Haught’s trailer, but there was no evidence she had a need to act in self defense.

“Was it intentional or an act of self defense? She can’t claim self defense as he was actually leaving the premises. He was on his way out,” Coil said. “No one has clean hands here. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.”

After opening statements, two deputies from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office testified.

Deputy Logan Schwendeman was called as the state’s first witness. He has been with the sheriff’s office since April 2012 and was working the night shift the night of the incident.

Schwendeman was at the sheriff’s office on Fourth Street in Marietta when he was called to the Marietta Police Department to speak to Richard Ames. Ames went to the police department to report he was in an altercation on Dodd Run Road and he was shot at.

“He was very erratic in behavior. He was shaken up acting,” Schwendeman said.

He reported Richard told him Michelle had taken their children and gone to Haught’s home and he wanted to get the kids back as he thought Haught had a bad reputation.

“No one answered the door. Larry came to the door and they got into a shoving match,” Schwendeman said.

As Richard tried to leave, he thought Haught smashed a tire iron through his truck window, he added.

“He looked through the window where the hole was,” Schwendeman said. “He saw her point the gun and shoot. Pieces of glass hit him in the hands and face.”

Schwendeman asked him how he was sitting in the truck and Richard said he was looking at the window with his hands on the steering wheel.

“His injuries were consistent with his statement,” he said.

When Schwendeman went to where Richard had parked his vehicle on Putnam Street outside of the police station, he noticed the truck was “beat up” but there were holes in the driver and passenger side windows. Jurors were shown pictures of the radial fractures in the driver’s side window that were “consistent with an object moving through a glass window.”

Jurors were also shown photos of Richard’s injuries, including a small cut on his neck, red marks on his left cheek and upper lip and red marks on his knuckles and hands.

During cross-examination, Smith showed Schwendeman the photos he took of Richard’s truck and asked if the deputy had noticed the camera attached to the front. Schwendeman said he did not.

“If you had seen the camera, you could have taken the camera to see what was on it. We’ll never know because (Richard) picked it up and it’s gone, right?” Smith asked him.

The last witness of the day was Deputy Sheriff Kevin Carr, who has been with the sheriff’s office for 29 years.

Carr had taken photos at Haught’s home the night of the shooting. Jurors were shown the photos, which included tire tracks, text messages on Haught’s phone between him and Michelle, as well as photos of glass on the road in front of the trailer.

During cross-examination, Carr said the photos he took were at night and none were taken the next day. Four or five deputies had tried to find bullet casings in the dark. Haught had produced a gun and shell casings, so deputies did not look for more.

“Once one was found, there was no reason to look for another. If we needed more evidence, we would have come back the next day for more photos,” Carr said.

Also on Tuesday, jurors were taken to Dodd Run Road to see where the incident took place.

The second day of the trial today will include testimony from a list of witnesses including Richard Ames, Larry Haught and Russell McCabe.

Michele Newbanks can be reached at mnewbanks@mariettatimes.com

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