Lawyers present versions of killing

One fact went undisputed Thursday as attorneys outlined their positions in the murder trial of Jamie Hein: With a single thrust of a steak knife five years ago, the young woman ended the life of her aunt's boyfriend.

Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo told jurors that the case has all the classic elements of murder: motive, means, opportunity and intent. But defense lawyer David Chesnoff said evidence will show that his client acted out of fear and "is not guilty of a single thing at all."

"Jamie Hein did what each and every one of you would want another human being to do," Chesnoff told the jury.

Timothy Herman, 36, died on April 8, 2002, after a confrontation with Hein, then 21, and a group of teenagers.

Hein sat at the defense table Thursday, but Chesnoff's opening statement had the effect of putting Herman's character on trial, too. The attorney alternately described Herman as a convicted felon, rapist, terrorist, drug abuser, "woman choker" and "kid beater."

"He had bragged about his sexual assaults, including one on an underage girl in the state of Florida," Chesnoff said.

The lawyer said Herman also boasted that, while in prison, he forced younger inmates to submit to his sexual advances.

"You are allowed to consider his propensity for violence," Chesnoff told jurors.

DiGiacomo said Herman had been arrested twice in Nevada on a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence. The prosecutor said one of the arrests stemmed from an incident involving Hein's aunt, Rebecca Garrison.

Chesnoff said Herman was 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 190 pounds. At one point during his opening statement, the defense attorney asked Hein to stand beside him. The thin woman, dressed in a lavender blouse and black slacks, came to the 6-foot lawyer's shoulders.

The attorney said Herman abandoned his wife and children in Florida to come live with Garrison in Las Vegas. He had methamphetamine and amphetamine in his system at the time of his death, Chesnoff said.

DiGiacomo said Hein, who also lived with Garrison, disliked Herman for a variety of reasons and had announced her desire to kill him shortly before she and two teenage boys attacked him.

"They beat him, they stabbed him, they threw bricks at him, they beat him over the head with a metal pole," the prosecutor said.

DiGiacomo showed the jury graphic photos of Herman's wounds and remarked, "You will hear that Miss Hein did not have a single injury to her."

After the slaying, Hein and two 16-year-old boys, Christopher Divich and Sean Hazlehurst, were charged with murder. Divich and Hazlehurst later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with a deadly weapon and are serving four- to 10-year prison terms.

Neither attorney discussed the convictions during their opening statements.

DiGiacomo told the jury he has no evidence indicating the teenagers knew Herman before the day of the killing. The prosecutor said Herman had ordered the group to leave the residence that day after he found them smoking marijuana there.

Hein and the two teenagers left, the prosecutor said, but Herman later went outside and confronted them. DiGiacomo said Herman punched Divich before fleeing the scene.

The prosecutor said Herman later returned to the home and went upstairs to get ready for bed. Meanwhile, Hein returned to the residence, grabbed a steak knife from the kitchen and went upstairs to confront Herman.

DiGiacomo said Herman emerged from the bedroom and grabbed Hein by the hair. Hein then plunged the knife into Herman's heart, the prosecutor said.

"While he doesn't know it yet, he's dead," DiGiacomo told the jury.

The prosecutor said Divich and Hazlehurst then arrived and began beating Herman.

"At the end of this case, ladies and gentlemen, it won't be about self-defense," DiGiacomo said.

Chesnoff said Divich's girlfriend has given the following description of an incident that occurred between Herman and Garrison before the killing: "This guy decides to hang his wife over the balcony and has her by the throat."

The defense lawyer said the young men who witnessed the incident from the street hollered at Herman to leave the woman alone, prompting him to come outside and ask, "You boys wanna play?" That led to an exchange of words with Divich, during which Herman "sucker-punched" the teenager in the head, Chesnoff said.

He told jurors that Hein later put the knife in her pocket for protection, then went upstairs to the bedroom where Herman had gone.

"The next thing she knows, he's out the door and grabbing her by the hair," Chesnoff said.

He said Hein knew at that moment "that if she didn't respond somehow," Herman would seriously harm her.

"She does what a girl does in this circumstance who's petrified," the lawyer said.

Testimony in the case is scheduled to begin this morning in District Judge David Wall's courtroom. Chesnoff said his client will take the witness stand during the trial.

In an interview after the proceedings, Chesnoff said Hein, who is free on bail, lives with her parents and works in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she attends college classes.

He said Hein's parents hired him and San Diego attorney Michael Pancer, who represented then-San Diego City Councilman Ralph Inzunza during his corruption trial. Inzunza's co-defendants included former Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone.

Chesnoff said he and Pancer agreed to discount their fees for the family. "We're basically doing this out of principle," Chesnoff said.

Hein's parents and Herman's parents, who live in Florida, listened to the opening statements Thursday.

Gilbert Herman and his wife, Kathy, said that while some of the statements made about their son were true, they disputed others.

"First of all, he's not a rapist," Kathy Herman said.

"Or a sodomist," Gilbert Herman said.

"Or a terrorist," Kathy Herman added.

"It'll all come out," Gilbert Herman said.