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Updated Nov. 1, 2007, 12:40 p.m. ET
Judge shot by Reno mogul who killed wife testifies at murder trial


Judge Weller
Washoe County Judge Chuck Weller held his chest to indicate where he was shot.
FULL COVERAGE: Reno Mogul <br> Murder Case
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LAS VEGAS — The family court judge Darren Mack gunned down after killing his estranged wife took the stand Tuesday at Mack's murder trial and recounted the sniper-style attack that left him bleeding on the floor of his chambers.

Washoe County Judge Chuck Weller said he was standing by his desk June 12, 2006, when he heard "a very loud noise" and felt a burning sensation in his chest.

"I thought maybe my cellphone had exploded in my shirt pocket," Weller said.

The judge, who was handling the Macks' divorce, told jurors he saw shattered glass.

"It occurred to me that I had just been shot through the window, so I threw myself down on the ground," he said.(VIDEO)

Mack, 46, a former pawn business president with a one-time personal wealth of $10 million, has acknowledged shooting Weller with a rifle from the roof of a Reno parking garage hours after he stabbed his wife, Charla, to death.

Weller was hit in the chest but recovered from his injuries.

Mack's attorneys are asking jurors to acquit him of murder and attempted murder, saying he was acting in self-defense when he killed his wife and was legally insane two hours later when he shot the judge.

Weller testified that, when detectives came to his hospital bedside in search of suspects, he gave them one name: "Darrel" Mack.

Asked by a prosecutor whom he had meant, Weller pointed across the courtroom toward the defense table where Darren Mack sat with his attorneys.

"That man right there," he said.

Mack looked impassively back at the judge.

During his divorce, Mack made no secret of his hatred for the judge, who he believed was biased in favor of his wife and her attorney. The judge said his last contact with Mack was a hearing the month before the shooting, when he refused to let him back out of a $1 million divorce settlement with Charla Mack.

Mack, he recalled, gave him "a mean, hateful, ugly glare" that he described to his assistant as "a look of death."

Weller told jurors that he was told Mack was behind blog posts several months before the shooting accusing him of bias in favor of campaign contributors and comparing him to Hitler.

Under a friendly direct examination by a prosecutor, Weller said Mack's accusations against him were unfounded. He said one of Mack's attorneys and his firm had actually given four times as much to his campaign as his wife's lawyer.

He said he had repeatedly found in favor of Mack, choosing his plan for custody over his wife's and rebuffing her attempt to get him to pay for counseling for their daughter.

He testified that he suspected Mack was trying to hide assets and held him in contempt when he transferred his portion of ownership of the family business to his mother.


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