[FL][CT] Ex-Officer Lane gets 30 years after trying to kill quiet Karen

...She was outside on a sidewalk when she turned and saw him take a .45-caliber Glock out of his pocket and aim. "You're dead," she heard him say... Keith Lane fired one round... Assistant State Attorney Michael Kenny showed the jury pictures of Karen Lane's battered body taken at the time of shooting. One showed a cut over her left eye; others depicted huge bruises on her thigh, arm and back... Circuit Judge Thane] Covert gave the defendant his thoughts on the case. "This is a woman who lived with you and under domination for 40 years... Forty years of your controlling manipulation and domination such that she wouldn't even fight back against you"... She never reported any of this to the police...

Pasco County Law enforcement and Courts made no exception for Keith Lane ever having been an officer. The only time he came to their attention, they handled it.

FIRST, FROM 2006:

MAN, 63, ACCUSED OF SHOOTING AT WIFE
St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Thursday, March 30, 2006
A 63-year-old man was charged Tuesday with attempted homicide and domestic battery after he tried to shoot his wife, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said. Deputies were dispatched to a shots fired call at 6:50 p.m. and spoke to Karen Lane , an affidavit said. Lane and her husband, Keith Allen Lane , of 6229 Lonnie Lee Lane , had been arguing, the Sheriff's Office affidavit said, and he pushed her against a wall. Karen Lane ran outside between her home and a neighbor's home, where her husband followed her, the affidavit said. She saw her husband pull out a black semiautomatic Glock handgun that he brought up to eye level and aimed at her, the affidavit said. Keith Lane fired one round but did not strike his wife, the affidavit said. Karen Lane ran to her neighbor's back yard, the affidavit said. The neighbor, who was sitting on a lanai, brought Karen Lane inside and called 911, the affidavit said. Keith Lane was arrested at 10500 Tapestry Drive. He is being held without bail at the Land O'Lakes jail.

NOW:

PASCO MAN FOUND GUILTY IN SHOOTING OF WIFE
The Tampa Tribune
By Todd Leskanic
Tampa Bay Online
Sept. 18, 2008
[Excerpts] By 2006, Karen Lane had endured years of unreported manipulation, threats and abuse at the hands of her husband, Keith. Still, she wavered about divorcing her spouse of 43 years. In the end, Keith Lane's irrepressible temper made the decision for her. During a final tirade on March 28, 2006, he pointed a .45-caliber Glock at his wife and fired. The bullet missed, but Keith Lane, a former police officer, wound up in jail, charged with attempted first-degree murder. On Wednesday, a Pasco County jury needed only an hour of deliberation to find him guilty. Now, the 65-year-old faces a minimum of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 24... Court documents show that Karen Lane was a prisoner to her husband's tirades. In a deposition, she talked about how her husband would put a gun to her head, call her names and beat her. But she never reported anything, or even told a friend... "He told me he was going to kill me all the time. He used the gun to chase me around the house." During this week's trial, Assistant State Attorney Michael Kenny showed the jury pictures of Karen Lane's battered body taken at the time of shooting. One showed a cut over her left eye; others depicted huge bruises on her thigh, arm and back... The day before the shooting, they had driven to an attorney's office to again try to begin divorce proceedings... Lane testified that he pushed and kicked her throughout the house. At one point, he pinned her to a wall and said, "This is it for you," she said. She broke away from him and ran out the front door. Karen Lane testified that she glanced back to see whether her husband was following and saw him raising a gun to aim. At the same time, she heard him say, "You're dead." A gunshot followed. Karen Lane ran next door, and the neighbors helped her dial 911. Keith Lane has been in custody since then... [Full article here]

PASCO MAN GETS 30 YEARS FOR TRYING TO KILL WIFE
Tampabay.com, FL
By Michael Kruse mkruse@sptimes.com
Saturday, October 25, 2008
[Excerpts] What happened late Friday afternoon in Courtroom 3A at the West Pasco Judicial Center was the merciful end to a tale of twisted love and relentless domestic abuse. Keith Lane, 65, sat on one side of the courtroom with his two defense attorneys. Karen Lane, 63, sat on the other side of the courtroom with her two victim advocates. They were married in 1963. They had two children together. He was a police officer in Connecticut before they moved down here in 1999 and bought a home in Hudson and another one in Port Richey. On Friday, though, Keith Lane was sentenced to 30 years in prison for trying to kill Karen Lane by pointing a pistol at her and pulling the trigger... He was controlling, abusive and violent, she said in a deposition last year. He punched her. He called her names. He pulled her hair. He told her what to wear. He would, she said, step on her feet and push her backwards. She was so bruised so much of the time that she almost always wore long-sleeved shirts. Once, she said, he threw her makeup, her toothbrush and her blow-dryer into the toilet and urinated on them. Another time, she said, he pushed her to the floor of the bathroom and threatened to shave off all her hair. He found a man on the Internet, she said, and had him come over and have sex with her. He videotaped it. She never reported any of this to the police. She never told family. She never told friends. "We were little kids when I fell in love with him," she said in the deposition. "He's my soul mate"... Karen Lane for most of the hearing kept her head in her hands and looked down at the ground by her feet. She said nothing. Judge Covert, thin-eyed and intense in delivering his ruling, called Keith Lane "manipulative," "arrogant" and "self-centered." "You," the judge told him, "are a textbook example of an abuser. "And that's all you are." Michael Kruse can be reached at or (727) 869-6244. [Full article here]

HUSBAND GETS 30-YEAR TERM IN SHOOTING
The Pasco Tribune
By TODD LESKANIC tleskanic@tampatrib.com
October 25, 2008
[Excerpts] Keith Lane rambled on for 10 minutes, trying to convince Circuit Judge Thane Covert that he was worthy of mercy. Lane, a former police officer, called himself a good man, a good father and a good husband... [Circuit Judge Thane] Covert gave the defendant his thoughts on the case. "This is a woman who lived with you and under domination for 40 years," Covert said. "Forty years of your controlling manipulation and domination such that she wouldn't even fight back against you. You are a textbook example of an abuser, that's all you are. You're not apologetic for anything you have done." With that, Covert sentenced Lane to 30 years in prison... [Full article here]