Man Disputes Charge Against Wife : Courts: She is accused of ramming a jacked-up car under which he was working. He says it was an accident and wants to pay her bail.

A Newbury Park man whose wife is charged with attempted murder for ramming a jacked-up car while he was under it said Wednesday that he does not think his wife tried to kill him, and he wants to bail her out of jail.

Moments after the arraignment of 44-year-old Marcia Burns in Ventura County Municipal Court, Jim Burns said he believes the incident was accidental. Burns, who works as a mechanic, blamed himself for not doing a better job of securing the car before he began working under it.

“I don’t think she did it on purpose. I was under the car, so there’s no way she could have seen me,� Jim Burns, 41, said. “If anything, I was negligent for not having the hand brake up on the car.�

But prosecutors say that at the time of the incident, Marcia Burns was planning to move to Las Vegas and became angry when her husband said he did not want to go with her.

At the arraignment, Burns pleaded not guilty and attorney Jean Farley asked the judge to lower the bail from $150,000 to $5,000 so her husband could set her free.

Farley, who said Jim Burns could not afford a high bail, argued that Marcia Burns had no history of physical violence and could stay with her mother if released on a lower bail.

Farley also said Marcia Burns would agree not to consume any alcohol or drive if she were released until her trial.

Although unemployed at the time of the incident, Marcia Burns had worked for a temporary agency for several months, processing paperwork for victims of the Jan. 17 earthquake, Farley told the judge. If released, Burns could get another temporary work assignment, Farley said.

Instead, Ventura County Municipal Court Judge Vincent J. O’Neill Jr. set bail at $50,000 and did not comment on the husband’s request that the charge against his wife be reduced from attempted murder.

If convicted, Burns faces up to nine years in prison.

Deputies say Jim Burns was working under a car at 1355 Lawrence Drive on Sept. 23 when his wife rear-ended the vehicle, knocking it onto him.

The victim was treated for a severely bruised left arm at Los Robles Regional Medical Center and then released. Marcia Burns fled the scene but was taken into custody several hours later.

Trying to elude officers, she crashed her car near Ventu Park Road in Newbury Park and was then arrested, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol officials said she tripped and fell about 200 feet down a brush-choked embankment during her failed escape.

During the arraignment it became clear that the Burns couple, who married on Valentine’s Day in 1993, have had their share of marital trouble.

While urging the judge to lower Marcia Burns’ bail, Farley said that, if released, her client could either stay with her mother or go back to a battered women’s shelter where she lived for a month last year.

The trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 21.