Tag: michael jace
‘Shield’ Actor Michael Jace Pleads Not Guilty To Murder In Wife’s Death

‘Shield’ Actor Michael Jace Pleads Not Guilty To Murder In Wife’s Death

By Caitlin Owens, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Actor Michael Jace pleaded not guilty Friday to a charge of murder in the shooting death of his wife, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Jace, who appeared on the television show “The Shield,” waived his right to a preliminary hearing earlier this month, a move signaling that his attorneys accepted that there was enough evidence to go to trial.

April Jace, 40, a financial aid counselor at Biola University, was shot multiple times in her upper torso on May 19 at the couple’s home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of L.A., police said.

Neighbors said they saw Michael Jace drive up to the home that afternoon and go inside, leaving the door partially open. A neighbor then heard popping sounds minutes later.

Authorities said Jace called police to report that he had just shot his wife to death.

When authorities arrived he was unarmed. Both of the couple’s children were inside the home at the time of the shooting but were not injured.

Jace is scheduled to appear in court again on Sept. 19.

AFP Photo/Mat Hayward

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Actor Michael Jace Held On Suspicion Of Murdering Wife

Actor Michael Jace Held On Suspicion Of Murdering Wife

By Richard Winton, Joseph Serna and Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES—For more than a decade, actor Michael Jace often played cops on television, including six years as a LAPD officer on “The Shield.”

But on Monday night, Jace stood in handcuffs surrounded by Los Angeles Police Department officers. Twenty feet away, inside the hall of a well-kept, three-bedroom Hyde Park home, lay the body of his wife of a decade, April Jace.

His wife, 40, had been shot multiple times. Authorities alleged Jace killed her and then called police to say he had just shot his wife.

The couple’s two children, both under 10, were inside the pink stucco home when their mother was killed, police said. Neither was harmed.

“At the very least they heard the shots,” LAPD Detective Sal LaBarbera said. “It is a terrible tragedy, made all the more worse by their children being there.”

Jace was booked on suspicion of murdering his wife, a well-liked financial aid counselor at Biola University and the mother of three children — two with her husband and one from a previous relationship. The third child, believed to be a teenager, was not at the house when shots rang out.

LaBarbera said investigators searched the home and recovered a handgun, which will be tested to determine whether it was used in the shooting.

Neighbors reported seeing Michael Jace pull into the driveway Monday night, walk in and leave the front door ajar. A few minutes later, a neighbor heard popping sounds and took cover.

Police said they arrived to find an unarmed Jace standing in the doorway, his wife’s body visible in a hallway. Officers immediately handcuffed him. Paramedics arrived soon and pronounce April Jace dead.

LaBarbera said Monday night’s 911 call from Jace marked the first time police had been called to the home and that officials did not know of any problems the couple had.

“They were the Huxtables on the block,” neighbor Tonja Edwards added.

April Jace, a California State, Fullerton graduate, competed in track and field events. She eventually got a job at Biola, a small Christian university in La Mirada.

“The Biola family will stand with this precious family and the employees who are grieving today, and my prayer is that the God of all comfort will be our refuge and peace,” Biola President Barry H. Corey said.

Michael Jace had no arrest record, according to public records. In divorce papers, Jace’s ex-wife claimed that he threatened her and another witness said the actor physically attacked her.

Ex-wife Jennifer Bitterman alleged in the November 1997 divorce filing that Jace threatened to kill her if she went to “war over his visitation rights to their son.”

A friend of Bitterman said she witnessed Jace choke and hit Bitterman and slam “her against the wall while (her son) screamed in his crib next to her,” according to court records. The child was 6 months old at the time.

The actor had been under financial strain for years, court records show.

Jace filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy in March 2011, listing more than $500,000 in liabilities against $325,000 in assets, according to federal court records.

At the time he owed more than $22,000 to the government, $16,000 to credit card companies and carried two mortgages.

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Photo: Sunny Chatty via Flickr

‘The Shield’ Actor Michael Jace Held In Wife’s Shooting Death

‘The Shield’ Actor Michael Jace Held In Wife’s Shooting Death

By Richie Duchon, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Actor Michael Jace, who played a Los Angeles police officer in the FX drama “The Shield,” has been arrested in the shooting death of his wife, police said.

April Jace, 40, was found shot to death around 8:30 p.m. Monday in her South Los Angeles home in the 5400 block of Brynhurst Avenue, police said.

Michael Jace, 48, was taken into custody at the scene and subsequently booked on suspicion of homicide early Tuesday morning, Los Angeles police Det. Eric Crosson told the Los Angeles Times.

Crosson said the investigation is ongoing and that it is not yet clear what led up to the shooting.

From 2002 to 2008, Jace played Los Angeles Police Officer Julien Lowe, who rose in the ranks to become a detective on the crime drama “The Shield.” He also had roles in “Planet of the Apes,” “Forrest Gump” and “Boogie Nights,” according to the website IMDb.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons