Ex-boyfriend convicted in shooting

The evidence showed clearly that Gidget Davis had been attacked in her home and shot twice in the head -- although neither bullet penetrated her skull.

But there was little physical evidence pointing to the man she identified as her attacker. All prosecutors had was Davis' story that Lewis Thues, her ex-boyfriend, was the gunman who placed a pillow over her head and shot through it.

But her word was enough for a jury, and Monday Thues was convicted of two counts each of attempted murder and burglary and one count of conspiracy.

Sentencing in District Judge Michael Douglas' courtroom is set for May 24.

Thues took the witness stand during the trial and admitted being at his former girlfriend's home, but blamed another man, known only as LaLa, as the gunman. Thues described the man as a drug dealer who was trying to collect $360 owed by Davis.

Meanwhile, Davis testified how she had tried to protect herself with a temporary protective order after she broke up with her longtime boyfriend, but in March 1998 she was shot in a home she thought was safe.

Deputy District Attorney Abbi Silver told the jury during closing arguments Friday that Thues "was a man on a mission to kill."

Deputy Public Defender Stacey Roundtree argued that there were "vast inconsistencies" in Davis' story and her version was not corroborated by the physical evidence.

During the trial, Davis told how she had feigned death after a second shot glanced off the back of her head. Once she heard the squeal of the assailants' car fleeing the area near Pecos Road and Owens Avenue, she called 911 and screamed in terror for help.

What saved Davis, Silver suggested, was that the woman had stuffed two pillows into one pillow case. The dense material apparently slowed and deflected the bullet.

Silver explained to the jury that Thues is the only defendant in the case because the second man was not known to Davis and has never been apprehended.

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