Michael Jace called his father-in-law after he shot his wife

Los Angeles  — Actor Michael Jace, who is charged with killing his wife, called and told his wife’s father about the shooting and asked him to come for the couple’s two young children soon after it happened, an emergency call released Thursday indicates.

In the three-minute call, the father of April Jace told a dispatcher that his son-in-law had called and texted him about the shooting.

“My son-in-law called me, and (texted) me, and said come get the kids because he shot April, our daughter,” the caller, whose name was redacted from the audio, told a fire department dispatcher.

Michael Jace, who played a police officer on the acclaimed TV series The Shield, was arrested on May 19, and police have said he also called police directly to report that he had shot his wife. That police call was not released.

Jace has been charged with murder but has not yet entered a plea.

His father-in-law called police while driving to the Los Angeles home of the couple. By then, police had already been notified of the shooting, according to the audio.

Michael Jace’s attorneys Jason Sias and Jamon Hicks did not comment on the content of the audio but noted that the case is relatively new and they were still investigating.

Motive for shooting not disclosed

“We have the utmost concern for the Jace children,” Sias and Hicks wrote. “Mr. Jace has a constitutional right to a defense. It remains extremely early and we are still in the fact-finding process.”

Police have not disclosed a possible motive for the shooting but previously said they were investigating whether it was prompted by financial difficulties or other marital problems. Michael Jace had filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and had fallen behind on payments to creditors as recently as December.

The family of April Jace released a statement last week calling her death “a senseless act of domestic violence.” The family said it was rallying around April Jace’s three sons, who range in ages from 5 to 18.

April Jace, 40, a financial aid counselor at Biola University, had two sons with her husband, both of whom were at home at the time of her killing. They were uninjured. Her oldest son was from a previous marriage.

Michael Jace also appeared on the show Southland and had small roles in the movies Planet of the Apes, Boogie Nights and Forrest Gump.

Credit: www.channel24.co.za

Michael Jace | Judge postpones actor’s arraignment on murder charges to June 18, 2014

An arraignment for actor Michael Jace, who is charged with murder in the shooting death of his wife, was postponed Thursday.

The 51-year-old regular on “The Shield” remained in custody on a charge of murder with a gun during his first appearance in Los Angeles County Superior Court downtown.

Judge Renee Korn moved the arraignment to June 18 at the request of Jace’s attorney and set bail at $2 million.

“He’s doing as well as somebody is that is in custody,” the actor’s attorney, Jason Sias, said outside of the courtroom. “He just wants to see this through.” Jace has been thinking about his two sons, Sias said.

The boys, both of whom are younger than 10, had been inside the couple’s Hyde Park home, where police found the body of April Jace, 40, Monday evening.

The boys were not harmed.  April Jace suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body.

“We just want to express our deepest sympathy to the family,” Sias said.

Mark Robles and his son, Alex Robles, appeared in court to show support for the children. The father and son taught the defendant and his sons jiu-jitsu at their La Mirada studio.

Michael Jace began taking his sons to the martial arts classes a year and a half ago so they could learn how to defend themselves from bullies, Mark Robles said.

Soon after, Michael Jace enrolled in classes, never exhibiting violent tendencies, said Mark Robles, adding that he found the actor who often played cops on TV as “sweet.”

“He was not an aggressive-type at all,” Michael Robles said. “That’s why this seems very out of character.”

The Jaces, he said, “looked like a couple that were in love.”

Crime scene photographs

CREDIT : http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-michael-jace-arraignment-postponed-20140522-story.html

Michael Jace officially charged with his wife’s murder

Los Angeles  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.”

Credit: CNN