Suspect Admits Ambushing Her Therapist

A Los Angeles woman who shot and wounded her former psychologist, his wife and 6-year-old daughter after ambushing them in their Fairfax-area house last December pleaded guilty Monday to attempted murder and assault.

Kimberly A. Gracyalny, who authorities said harassed therapist David Fox and his family for more than four years before mounting the bloody pistol assault, faces a mandatory life prison term when sentenced April 5 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David A. Horowitz.

Gracyalny, 30, can apply for parole after serving about 10 years in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Sharon Matsumoto said. But under a recently enacted state law, the prosecutor said, the state Board of Prison Terms could decide to parole her to a state mental hospital, rather than free her, if it decided not to keep her in prison.

‘Proper Adjudication’

“I think it’s a proper adjudication,” Matsumoto said of the plea-bargain arrangement. “It’s possible she could be in prison for the rest of her life, or in a state mental hospital for the rest of her life.

“Certainly the fact that the family and children won’t have to go through the trial counts for a lot,” Matsumoto added.

She said that Fox, 34, and his wife, Deborah, 31, favored the plea bargain.

Gracyalny, who was treated by Fox for fewer than a dozen hour sessions between November, 1982, and March, 1983, for an undisclosed problem, began harassing the neuro-psychology specialist shortly afterward, according to court records.

Fox, who finally obtained a Superior Court restraining order against his former patient in 1986, charged that she “stalked” the family, making threatening phone calls and trespassing on their property weekly. After scaling back yard walls, Gracyalny would sometimes shoot off flashbulbs in front of the windows.

She also was the sole suspect, Fox stated, in several incidents of vandalism--including the slashing of all four tires on his station wagon and the painting over of nine of his windows and screens.

Despite the court order, Gracyalny continued the harassment, having been arrested at least twice for trespassing and other offenses. She was released from jail only a few weeks before the shooting incident and the family was not notified, Fox said.

Then, on Dec. 20, Gracyalny, who had positioned herself in Fox’s yard, opened fire when the family returned from dinner. Chasing them around the North Gardner Street home, Gracyalny shot Fox in the arm, Deborah in both legs, and the daughter in the left leg. Three sons, aged 9, 10 and 18 months, escaped injury.

Fox and his wife were finally able to grab Gracyalny and subdue her until police arrived. The three victims were briefly hospitalized, with Fox suffering nerve damage.

Deputy Public Defender Leon Hitch refused comment Monday on why his client, a native of Milwaukee who came to California 10 years ago, decided against entering a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

“I think the interests of my client were served” by the guilty plea, Hitch said.

If Gracyalny had entered an insanity plea, a jury could have rejected it and found her guilty of six counts of premeditated attempted murder.

Under the terms of the plea bargain, entered before Municipal Judge David M. Horwitz, Gracyalny admitted only one count of premeditated attempted murder, which carries the possible life term, and two counts of assault. Five additional premeditated attempted murder counts are to be dropped at the time of sentencing.