Murder Witness Sues California National Guard for Retaliation

A sergeant is suing his employer, the California Army National Guard, for alleged retaliation after he testified in the murder trial of a colleague who was later convicted of killing a pregnant recruit.

City News Service reports Sgt. Erik Hein also claims infliction of emotional distress in the lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Hein testified against Sgt. Scott Ansman and had urged superiors to investigate his colleague’s actions before the death of 29-year-old Joann Crystal Harris.

Ansman, a married father of three, beat her to death with a baseball bat in 2007 because he wrongly believed she was pregnant with his baby.

Deputy Attorney General David Adida represented the state in an earlier wrongful death suit and could not be reached for comment on Hein’s new lawsuit.