Lawyers deferred the plea of Charles Handley, a 78-year-old man
who tried to shoot his son’s ex-wife and her boyfriend before the
two left for work one April morning, according to police.
Gilroy – Lawyers deferred the plea of Charles Handley, a 78-year-old man who tried to shoot his son’s ex-wife and her boyfriend before the two left for work one April morning, according to police.
Handley was arrested Wednesday, April 26 at 971 Festa Aglio Court, after firing at his former daughter-in-law, Lynda Handley, and her boyfriend Lynn Ryle, wounding only Lynda Handley, police said. The elderly man apparently rented a car and drove to Gilroy from his San Jose home, toting a .357 magnum handgun, and confronted the couple just before 6am in the garage at Ryle’s home.
He shot twice at Lynda Handley, missing both times; the woman grabbed the gun and tried to wrestle it away from Charles Handley, and was shot in the thigh as the two struggled, she told police. Lynn Ryle dove to the ground and threw a coffee mug at him; later, he was able to knock the elderly man down and pull the gun from him, according to a police report. Ryle then pinned Charles Handley down until police arrived.
The case was continued a third time Monday in Superior Court in San Martin, as defense attorney Victor Vertner asked for more time to gather evidence. Handley faces two counts of attempted murder. He has yet to enter a plea according to the report.
Gilroy police found a suicide note at Charles Handley’s home after his arrest, addressed to his son, Clifford Handley, Lynda’s ex-husband. The note indicates that the older man had fallen in love with his son’s wife, and planned to kill himself after “what has taken place.” Inside a smaller envelope with the letter, Charles Handley enclosed $1,500 in cash.
Lynda Handley explained to police that her father-in-law had been writing her inappropriate e-mails since she left Clifford Handley, and that she had asked him to stop, then later blocked his e-mail address. The elderly man had grown depressed since Clifford and Lynda Handley separated, he wrote, though both Charles and Lynda Handley said nothing romantic had happened between them.
The 78-year-old man has no prior convictions, according to court records. Vertner noted his sterling record in his comments on the case.
“To be convicted of attempted murder you have to specifically intend to murder the person with malice and forethought,” said Vertner. “He did not specifically intend to kill either of the ‘victims.’ ” Attempted murder, he concluded, “is not what happened here … It’s a tragedy.”
Bail hasn’t been set: Deputy district attorney Amir Alem explained that Superior Court Judge Kenneth Shapero was unavailable Monday and both attorneys preferred that he set bail, since he was most familiar with the case. Superior Court Judge Hugh Mullin replaced Shapero Monday.
A no-contact order is in place, barring Handley from contacting Lynda Handley, Ryle and Marilyn Rasmussen, Lynda Handley’s mother. Though the man remains in custody, the order prevents Charles Handley from calling them, Alem said.
Asked whether the case was unusual, Alem said simply, “You have an individual who shows up with a gun and takes several shots at two different people. Unfortunately, it happens frequently.”
The April shooting was the second violent incident to strike the Ryle home in a year: In September, Lynn Ryle’s wife Kathryn died of a shotgun wound to the chest. Detectives are still determining whether she or someone else pulled the trigger on the gun, and called the incident “a suspicious death.” As of last week, nearly nine months after the incident, Detective Frank Bozzo was waiting for on one final lab test before deciding whether to send the case to the DA.
