NEWBURY PARK : Deliberations to Begin in Assault Case

Deliberations are set to begin today in the assault trial of a Newbury Park woman accused of ramming her vehicle into a jacked-up car while her estranged husband was working under it.

Jurors heard several hours of arguments Thursday from attorneys who debated whether Marcia Burns, 44, deliberately struck the car or accidentally caused her vehicle to roll forward when her foot slipped off the brake pedal.

Burns had no idea Jimmy Lee Burns was under the car in front of her when it slipped forward, Assistant Public Defender Jean Farley said.

“We don’t need your sympathy because (Burns) didn’t break the law,” Farley told jurors. “Everything she did in this case, everything, was justified under the law.”

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Connors argued that the incident was just another episode in the stormy relationship of Marcia and Jimmy Lee Burns. Not only did Marcia Burns know her husband, a mechanic, was under the other car, she also yelled “I hope you die” several times before she deliberately aimed her vehicle at him, Connors said.

“Would you yell ‘I hope you die’ to somebody who isn’t there?” Connors asked.

Prosecutors had initially charged Burns with attempted murder, but reduced it to assault with a deadly weapon after her husband recanted part of his story. Jimmy Lee Burns, 41, testified that his wife could not have seen him under the car.

Farley disputed several of the statements that witnesses reported Burns had said.

The defense attorney accused one witness of making up his testimony, and she argued that Burns actually said to her husband, “How long are you going to put me through this hell?” and not “You’re going to go to hell,” Farley said.