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Pasco Man Found Guilty In Shooting Of Wife

Tribune photo by ANDY JONES

Keith Lane faces a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 24.

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By TODD LESKANIC

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 18, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - 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. The maximum penalty for attempted first-degree murder is life in prison.

To outsiders, it appeared the Lanes had built a nice life for themselves. They retired to Florida from the Northeast in 1999 and finished a waterfront dream home in 2002. Karen Lane, 63, designed every inch of the 2,600-square-foot home on Lonnie Lee Lane, where she still lives.

The Lanes also purchased several other properties, including a house on Tapestry Drive in Port Richey. But 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.

"I hated the way we lived, but I married him for life," she said in a 2007 deposition.

"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 bruises and the subsequent gunfire were signs of a tense week for the Lanes. The day before the shooting, they had driven to an attorney's office to again try to begin divorce proceedings. According to testimony, Keith Lane exploded in anger when they returned home.

Karen Lane testified that she left the house that day and went to stay in the Tapestry Drive house. The following night, her husband drove there and stormed in through the front door. 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.

A short time later, Karen Lane phoned her attorney.

She called off the divorce - partly because she loved her dream house, partly because she loved her husband, Lane said in her deposition.

"We were little kids when I fell in love with him," she said. "I'm not in love with him, but I still love him. He's my soul mate."

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

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