ATTEMPT TO KILL ELICITS LAWSUIT HUSBAND MAY PAY FOR SHOOTING WIFE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LITTLEROCK - A Littlerock man convicted of trying to kill his truck driver wife and 16-year-old stepdaughter is now being sued in civil court.

Louis Thomas Hunter Jr., 40, who shot the two in his wife's big rig truck and then turned the gun on himself, is being sued by his wife, Dotty Hunter, for battery, false imprisonment and emotional distress.

``Defendant Hunter's actions of utilizing the truck to falsely imprison and distract plaintiff and the subsequent action of shooting plaintiff in the head constitutes such atrocious conduct that it goes beyond all bounds of society,'' the lawsuit said.

Dotty Hunter, who resides in Colorado, suffered permanent and irreparable damage to her pituitary gland, multiple facial fractures, permanent hearing loss, paralysis and disfigurement, the lawsuit said.

Louis Hunter was convicted June 26 of attempted murder and assault with a firearm by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury. He is in custody in lieu of $995,000 bail and faces more than 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced later this month.

The three were found by California Highway Patrol officers June 28, 2000, each with bullet wounds to the head in a crashed big-rig tractor near 90th Street East and Palmdale Boulevard.

Dotty Hunter was in the hospital for two weeks following the incident and is now deaf in one ear, prosecutors said. Her daughter, now 17, has partial paralysis in her face, has difficulty speaking and for a while had to eat through a tube, prosecutors said.

When deputies arrived at the scene and asked Thomas Hunter what happened, the defendant replied that he shot the victims, officials said. When asked why, Hunter responded, ``Divorce.''

Hunter and his wife had both begun the process of filing for a divorce, prosecutors said.

Hunter testified that he acted in self-defense. He said he started shooting after his wife said someone was pointing a gun at him, prosecutors said.

According to family members, the couple had been married less than two years. The wife worked as a truck driver and was assigned to drive the truck that the defendant and victims were found in.

Hunter also had worked as a truck driver but had quit his job a couple of weeks before the shootings, prosecutors said.