Woman Held in Ex-Spouse’s Killing Ordered Released : Law: Prosecutors decide tentatively against murder charge in La Habra shooting witnessed by couple’s children.

A woman accused of fatally shooting her abusive ex-husband was released from custody Tuesday after Orange County prosecutors tentatively decided that she will not be charged with murder.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lew Rosenblum said that a final decision would be made today on what charges, if any, might be filed against 32-year-old Annette Burgin of Rancho Cucamonga who allegedly shot her ex-husband in La Habra on Sunday afternoon.

“No charges are being filed at this point, and we hope to have this case wrapped up” today, Rosenblum said.

Burgin, the mother of two infants, had been held in the La Habra City Jail without bail since her surrender to police Sunday afternoon and was transported Tuesday morning to Municipal Court in Fullerton where a judge ordered her release.

Burgin declined to comment about the shooting, but her attorney, Bonnie E. Marshall, said it was obvious that her client fired the .38-caliber pistol in self-defense.

“She was absolutely justified to shoot someone who was attacking her,” Marshall said.

According to witnesses, James Allen Burgin, 34, of Corona was waiting for his ex-wife to drop off their children at his sister’s home on Vallejo Street in La Habra for a visitation.

When his former wife arrived with the children, he crept up on the driver’s side of her van and began smashing the window and shouting, witnesses told police.

After he had broken the window and was attempting to reach his former wife, she fired a single shot and drove away. She stopped at the home of a stranger a few blocks away and asked that police be called because she had shot someone.

A trail of blood revealed that her wounded ex-husband crawled into the home of his sister and brother-in-law, where he apparently attempted to phone for help.

Don Leach, the brother-in-law, said he and his wife might have prevented the shooting if they had returned home five minutes earlier.

“We were running some errands and no one was home when he (James) arrived,” Leach said. “I’m sure me and my wife could have stopped it from happening.”

Leach described the Burgins’ nine-year marriage as “pure hell” for Annette Burgin.

“She had gone through a lot of violent abuse,” Leach said. “She was in fear for her life. That’s why she was carrying a gun. She was in total fear of him.”

Leach also said that the husband for years had defied court orders that he stay away from his ex-wife and was obsessed with not letting her go.

“He loved her deeply and could not bring himself to understand that he couldn’t be with her anymore,” Leach said.

Bonnie Leach, James Burgin’s sister, said she was worried about the effect the shooting would have on the children, who witnessed their mother kill their father.

“He (James) had been going to the Western Medical Center in Santa Ana for treatment of his chemical imbalance problem and needed medicine,” Bonnie Leach said. “He stopped going because he couldn’t afford to keep paying $100 for it.”

Don Leach said his brother-in-law was a brilliant man who had had a successful construction business. But he said he had long been convinced that the Burgins’ relationship was going to end violently.

“I knew someday it would end like this. . . . I had always thought he would eventually kill her,” Leach said.