Woman Is Acquitted of Assault With Car : Trial: Jury convicts the Newbury Park resident of hit-and-run in the incident involving her estranged husband.

A Newbury Park woman, accused of ramming her car into a jacked-up vehicle while her estranged husband was under it, was acquitted Friday of assault with a deadly weapon, but convicted of hit-and-run for leaving the accident scene.

The case that began as attempted murder, only to be reduced to assault after the husband recanted part of his story, took on an almost cheerful note as two jurors shook hands with Marcia Burns following the verdict and wished her luck.

Burns, 44, testified during the trial that the Sept. 23 incident was an accident, caused when her foot slipped from the brake of her car. Although she acknowledged a stormy relationship with Jimmy Lee Burns, punctuated at times by his abuse, she said she did not know he was under the car she struck until after the incident.

She is scheduled for sentencing Feb. 21 on the felony hit-and-run charge, which carries a maximum sentence of three years. Assistant Public Defender Jean Farley said she will seek a new trial on that count.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Connors argued vehemently during the trial that Burns intentionally rammed her Audi 5000 into the Sterling her husband, a mechanic, was working beneath at his auto shop in Newbury Park.

After Burns was acquitted of the assault charge, however, Connors said he understood why jurors voted the way they did.

“I think it’s a reasonable verdict,” the prosecutor said. “I think they could have seen where it could have been an accident as far as knocking the car off (the jack) . . . . I personally don’t believe it, but with her nonviolent background and the car moving so slowly, I can see where they would believe it.”

Connors said Jimmy Lee Burns once struck his wife in the face and gave her a bloody nose while the couple were living in Las Vegas. Although Marcia Burns reported to police several other times that her husband battered her, there was never any physical evidence to support those allegations, Connors said.

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He discounted defense claims that Burns was a battered wife, and said he believes jurors had a hard time believing a woman could be guilty of spousal abuse because that is “a role reversal that is foreign to us.”

Farley said she is “very happy that the jury found (Burns) didn’t engage in any willful conduct against her husband.”

“It’s really not a domestic violence case,” Farley said.

She said the Burns’ divorce would be final soon.

Jimmy Lee Burns testified during the trial that he did not believe his wife intended to injure him. He made it clear he did not want his wife prosecuted, a stance that forced prosecutors in November to reduce an attempted murder charge to assault.