The Associated Press
SEATTLE
A jury on Tuesday convicted a lawyer of attempted murder in a 2004 shooting that left a rival attorney in a nursing home, unable to speak.
Prosecutors said they would seek a stiffer sentence for William R. Joice, 51, beyond the standard-range term of 20 to 25 years because of aggravating factors.
Joice testified during the trial that although he shot Kevin Jung in the head outside Jung’s Bellevue law office, he didn’t intend to kill him.
Joice said he was just trying to injure Jung to buy time in a lawsuit which pitted the two lawyers against each other. Jung, a 45-year-old father of two, and Joice represented opposite sides in a contract dispute.
A court commissioner had required Joice to pay Jung thousands of dollars in fees for missing hearings and failing to turn over documents.
On the morning of Nov. 3, 2004, the two lawyers were supposed to appear in court for a hearing in the case; Jung had asked the commissioner to find Joice in contempt.
Instead, Joice drove to Jung’s office and as Jung got in his car to drive to the hearing, Joice fired several shots.