Iranian Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison in Wife’s Shooting : Courts: Prosecutors say he was upset over his spouse wearing pants and leaving the house against his wishes. Cultural differences are cited.

An Iranian immigrant who prosecutors said shot his wife twice in the head because she disobeyed his order not to wear pants or leave the house was sentenced to five years in state prison Monday.

A San Fernando Superior Court jury Monday found Harold Bethishou, 45, of Encino, who had been charged with attempted murder, guilty of the lesser offense of assault with a deadly weapon and use of a firearm. Judge Ronald Coen passed sentence immediately.

Prosecutors said Bethishou shot his wife, Violet, 37, twice in the head on Nov. 10, 1989, in her sister’s Mission Hills home because he was upset over her wearing pants and because she left the house after he told her not to.

The couple had been married for 10 months before the shooting. Bethishou and his wife are from Iran, and he has been in the United States since 1974, said defense attorney Christopher C. Chaney.

The wife’s disobedience was a key issue in the trial, Chaney said.

Prosecutors noted that husbands in Iran have more control over their wives than those in the United States. “The D.A. tried to show that in their culture,” such disobedience “was very much a serious offense and Bethishou reacted” as he did because of his cultural background, Chaney said.

Bethishou maintained that the shooting was accidental and that he was only attempting to hand his wife the gun to use for her protection when she grabbed it, Chaney said.

According to court records, Bethishou received a medical degree in the Dominican Republic and was studying to become licensed to practice medicine in the United States when the shooting occurred.

In arguing for the maximum sentence of six years, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kent C. Cahill argued that Bethishou was particularly “callous” because he left the house after the shooting without attempting to administer aid.

“How can a man trained in medicine walk away from his wife who lay dying” with two bullet wounds? Cahill asked.

Chaney said Bethishou had been ordered out of the house by his sister-in-law, and that by Iranian custom, he was bound to respect a host’s order. “There were some cultural differences, and they had to be explained,” Chaney said.

Bethishou’s wife survived but suffered permanent injuries, the prosecution said.