Local News in Brief : Wife Loses Suit Over Stabbing at Courthouse

A jury has rejected an Encino woman’s argument that lax security at the Van Nuys courthouse allowed her estranged husband to stab her in the hallway after a divorce hearing in 1982.

The jury in the courtroom of Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Thomas Schneider voted 9 to 3 Friday against awarding damages to the woman, Blanca Winans, 30, in her civil suit against Los Angeles County.

Winans was nearly killed when her husband, Edward, stabbed her in the chest and throat as she waited for an elevator, court records show.

Her attorney, Leslie H. Greenfield, argued that sheriff’s deputies, who serve as court bailiffs, knew that Edward Winans posed a danger to her and that they should have provided greater security.

Jurors said, however, that bailiffs could not have anticipated the attack and were, therefore, unable to prevent it.

Blanca Winans testified that her husband repeatedly beat her when they were married and that she had sought shelter in a Canoga Park home for battered women while awaiting divorce proceedings.

Edward Winans pleaded guilty to attempted murder in 1982 in connection with the attack and was sentenced to eight years in state prison, court records show. He will be eligible for parole this year.