Aissa Wayne’s Assailant Gets Maximum: 8 Years

SANTA ANA — Jerrel Lee Hintergardt, who stunned even his own lawyer by admitting his involvement in the 1988 assault on John Wayne’s daughter and her boyfriend, was sentenced Friday to eight years in state prison, the maximum possible term.

Hintergardt’s attorney had told jurors last month that his client was at a Los Angeles hospital for an adjustment on his artificial foot when Aissa Wayne and financier Roger W. Luby were attacked on the morning of Oct. 3, 1988, in the garage of Luby’s Newport Beach estate. But moments before he was scheduled to testify, Hintergardt, 38, told his attorney, Todd A. Landgren, that he’d been lying to him; he was at the Luby estate that day.

At Friday’s sentencing, Luby made a victim-impact statement to the court but directed his comments to Hintergardt: “I was seriously injured; you will never know how much you have injured me.”

Prosecutors contend that Wayne’s ex-husband, Dr. Thomas A. Gionis, had ordered the attack during a bitter custody dispute over their 2-year-old daughter. Gionis, whose trial is scheduled for Aug. 28, is accused of hiring Los Angeles private investigator O. Daniel Gal, who is said to have hired Hintergardt and another man, Jeffrey K. Bouey, to carry out the doctor’s wishes.

Wayne and Luby had just returned from a health club workout when two gunmen approached them as they got out of their car in Luby’s garage.

Wayne and Luby both testified that it was Hintergardt who beat up Luby and slashed his Achilles’ tendon with a knife, then smashed Wayne’s face several times into the concrete garage floor. Hintergardt admitted the Luby assault but blamed Wayne’s injuries on Bouey.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans asked for the maximum sentence, telling the court that the “purely gratuitous” cutting on Luby’s heel was a vicious act that deserved the stiffest punishment.

Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan agreed, responding that the assault was unnecessarily vicious.

Defense attorney Landgren had asked the judge to sentence Hintergardt to the mid-term of six years, based on Hintergardt’s lack of any prior criminal record.

Landgren said later, however, that Ryan’s decision was no surprise.

“With the extent of the injuries to Mr. Luby, it’s certainly understandable how a judge could see this as an aggravated case,” Landgren said.

But the defense attorney said the sentence was harsh compared to what he predicted Bouey would receive. Gal and Bouey, who have cooperated with the authorities, have admitted their roles in the assault and are expected to enter guilty pleas. However, their cases will probably not be resolved until after the Gionis trial.

Bouey, who spent a year in the Orange County Jail before finally being freed on bail, testified at Hintergardt’s trial and substantiated Wayne’s and Luby’s testimony.

“Trust me, he will not spend another day in jail,” Landgren said. “Yet he is very much just as responsible for what happened as my client.”

Hintergardt was found guilty on all eight felony counts against him, which included assault, false imprisonment, conspiracy and intimidating a witness.

Wayne and Luby testified that when Hintergardt attacked her, he told her: “You’re (messing) with the wrong people.”

Gionis does not deny that he hired Gal, but he claims he did not order the attack.

Hintergardt claimed in his testimony that it was Luby who was the target of the attack--not Wayne--and that Gal told him nothing about Gionis being involved. However, Gionis’ attorneys have said they will have to study the testimony before deciding whether to call Hintergardt as a witness.