Ackerman Found Guilty of Attempted Murder for Shooting Girlfriend in Back

Apparently unimpressed by arguments that Bradley Ackerman was in a Valium-induced blackout and had unintentionally shot his girlfriend in the back, a jury Tuesday found him guilty of attempted first-degree murder.

“He knew what he was doing,” said Ellsworth A. Wiltz, foreman of the jury. “He was rational and conscious of the consequences of his act.”

The offense carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.

‘Protect Him From Himself’

Ackerman, 24, dug his fingers into his thighs as the verdict was read. As grim-faced family members looked on, Judge J. D. Smith ordered Ackerman taken immediately to the hospital section of County Jail to “protect him from himself and from harming others.”

Sentencing was set for Feb. 6.

“It’s just as bad as it can be,” said a red-eyed Daniel H. Ridder, chairman of the Long Beach Press-Telegram and Ackerman’s stepfather.

Flanked by television cameras, Ackerman’s attorney, Anthony Murray, later said the outcome had been based on emotionalism rather than reason.

“It was an emotional verdict,” he said. “The jury was obviously swept away by the emotion of grievous injuries; it was very difficult for the jury to focus on the law.”

A former national junior tennis champion, Ackerman was convicted of shooting Julie Alban in the back as she slept on the morning of June 8. He then shot himself in the chest. As a result of the incident, Alban, 23, is paralyzed from the waist down. Ackerman has fully recovered from his wounds.

Depression Claimed

The defense maintained that the young man had been deeply depressed by his failure to live up to his early potential as a professional tennis player. As a result, his lawyers argued, Ackerman had become a compulsive gambler with a Valium habit that on the night of the shooting caused him to “black out” and shoot Alban unintentionally while trying to kill himself.

Although conceding that he must have pulled the trigger, Ackerman testified that he had no recollection of the event.

“He simply did not know what was going on and had no intent to kill the girl who he loved and who loved him,” Murray had said in court.

Alban, the daughter of a Long Beach surgeon, painted a considerably different picture, however, saying that Ackerman had asked her to marry him, then shot her when she rejected his offer.

And prosecutor Ken Lamb on Tuesday expressed satisfaction that the jury seemed to have gone along with that interpretation of the event. “It’s a just verdict based on the evidence,” he said.

Because the families live across the street from each other, are among the wealthiest and most prominent in Long Beach and had been close friends, the two-week trial provided many moments of quiet drama.

‘Intense Confrontation’

In what she later described as an “intense confrontation,” Julie’s mother, Reva Alban, at one point cornered Ridder outside the courtroom to attack perceived errors in his testimony. And during the two days Julie Alban spent in court, Ackerman consistently averted his gaze to avoid looking at her.

Resting at home after the verdict was announced, the young woman expressed mixed feelings regarding the outcome.

“It’s a real bittersweet ending,” she said. “I end up in a wheelchair for the rest of my life, and he may end up in prison for the rest of his. I’m absolutely convinced that he deserved this verdict, but as an emotional and loving person it just seems like such a complete tragedy that I can’t help but shed tears for both of our lives.”