Acquitted Woman's Ordeal Over -- She Says She Loved Her Slain Husband

YAKIMA - Lorelle Merker's voice cracked Thursday as she declared that she did love her husband, even though she shot him to death in self-defense during a fight last year.

Merker was acquitted Wednesday of all charges in her second murder trial, ending a year-long ordeal that exposed her life as the battered wife of a prominent man.

The verdict was a bitter blow to the family of Dr. Glenn Merker, who was shot to death March 5, 1990, at his home.

``I did in fact love their son,'' Merker said in a news conference. ``In their hearts they must have known that. `I wish I could bring their son back but I can't. I have no bitterness against them or against Glenn.''

A Yakima County Superior Court jury acquitted her last October of a first-degree murder charge but failed to reach a verdict on a second-degree murder charge.

Jurors on Wednesday acquitted her of second-degree murder and the lesser charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter.

Merker contended she shot her husband six times in self-defense during a fight at their home in which she feared he would kill her. She presented a history of physical abuse at the hands of her husband.

She said the shooting occurred during a struggle.

But Prosecutor Howard Hansen argued she shot her husband as he was packing to leave after a fight.

Hansen said Merker was actually the one in a rage because of a failing marriage.

The two trials were widely publicized, and Merker said she received hundreds of letters of support from other battered wives. Many would not sign their names.

``You can't walk away and say it's not happening,'' Merker said. ``It is happening, on every economic level.''

When she sought professional help she found that experts did not know what to do, she said. She recalled one who told her to draw a picture of a bull's-eye and then pull it out each time her husband tried to strike her, giving him an alternative target.

The medical and legal communities need to educate themselves about physical abuse, she said.

Asked for her advice to battered women, Merker said they should not expect the violence to stop.

``I was under the impression that it might get better,'' Merker said. ``It will never get better.''

Defense attorney Chris Tait said the case was an indictment of a county that had failed to adequately address the problem of physical abuse of women and children.

He also criticized prosecutors for proceeding with the second trial and the Yakima County Sheriff's Department for doing a shoddy investigation of the killing.

``They let way too many people into the crime scene,'' Tait said. ``They were misled by what they saw in the house.''

Prosecutors relied heavily on physical evidence in the Merker bedroom, saying the angle of the wounds contradicted Merker's story of a life-and-death struggle. They attempted to prove that Merker deliberately messed up the house to simulate a struggle.

While acquitting her, jurors did not completely believe her self-defense contention. One juror said Merker was acquitted because prosecutors had not proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Merker, 39, whose face was on television screens and in newspapers regularly for more than a year, said she is not sure if she will remain in Yakima. There are still questions remaining about her husband's estate, including legal challenges for part of the assets by a former wife.

She acknowledged there are people in the community ``who would like to see me hang.''

Merker said she is becoming healthier every day.

``I can laugh again, go places,'' she said. ``It's an incredible feeling.

``I have my whole life ahead of me,'' she said.