Newspaper Heir Intended Suicide, Not Murder, Defense Attorney Says

Bradley Ackerman, newspaper heir accused of attempting to murder his girlfriend, was described by his defense attorney Wednesday as a compulsive gambler and Valium user who unintentionally shot Julie Alban while he was trying to kill himself.

“There is very little question about what happened,” attorney Anthony Murray said during opening arguments of Ackerman’s trial in Los Angeles Superior Court. “Bradley fired the gun, and what resulted is a profound and irreversible tragedy. He is not guilty to any crime that involves intent to kill.”

Ackerman, 24-year-old stepson of Long Beach Press-Telegram Chairman Daniel H. Ridder, is accused of shooting Alban in the back as she slept on June 8. As a result of the attack, Alban, 23, is paralyzed.

Alban, speaking from a wheelchair, testified Wednesday that Ackerman, who had spent the night in a separate bedroom of her family’s home, shot her and then himself about seven hours after she suggested that they cool a relationship that had lasted nearly 10 months.

‘I Wasn’t Ready’

Their lives had been drifting apart, she said, as she was planning to attend law school and he was leaning toward accepting a job in England.

“Brad was constantly asking me about marriage,” said Alban, whose testimony had to be interrupted at one point after she broke into tears. “I just told him I wasn’t ready.”

A short recess was called after Murray asked Alban whether she had loved Ackerman until he shot her. “I did,” she answered tearfully.

In other testimony, Alban’s father, Dr. Seymour Alban, identified his handgun as the apparent weapon and he said Ackerman must have taken it from the trunk of his car that night.

Ackerman’s attorney rejected the notion that his client’s animosity was aimed at Julie, painting instead the picture of a young man whose life was on the skids.

Murray said Ackerman, a high school tennis star, had been “deeply disappointed” by the dashing of his hopes for a professional sports career. As a result, he said, Ackerman had become severely depressed, eventually quitting his job and becoming a compulsive gambler heavily dependent on Valium, a tranquilizer prescribed by a psychiatrist.

Lost $30,000 Bet

On the night of the shooting, Murray said, Ackerman’s depression was exacerbated by several factors: He had lost his last $30,000 in a bet on a baseball game in San Diego; he had learned that the prospective job in England would pay only $10,000 a year, which he considered insufficient, and he had taken a large dose of Valium with alcohol in an attempt to kill himself.

Although Ackerman remembers talking to Alban earlier in the evening about his situation, Murray said, he does not remember getting the handgun from Seymour Alban’s car, nor does he remember the shooting. “He had no intention of killing or hurting in any way the girl who was his friend and who meant so much to him,” Murray said.

Sitting in the courtroom earlier in the day, Ackerman spoke to reporters for the first time since the shooting. “I feel terrible about what’s happened,” he said. “It’s a horrible tragedy. I can’t believe this whole thing ever happened.”