Hide Transcript Show Transcript

>> LETTING HIM OUT WOULD BE A GREAT RISK TO THIS COMMUNITY. ALEX: ELLIE VAN DAM WATCHED HER SHOOTER MAKE HIS CASE TO THE PAROLE BOARD FOR WHY HE SHOULD BE ALLOWED ON WORK RELEASE LESS THAN 5 YEARS INTO A 45 YEAR SENTENCE. STILL DEALING WITH DEAFNESS IN HER LEFT EAR AND SEVERED NERVES, SHE ASKED THE BOARD NOT TO LET BRIAN CASE OUT OF JAIL SO SOON >> SHOOTING ME WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT. IT WAS NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT. HE HELD ME AT GUN POINT REGULARLY AND SAID IF I CROSSE HIM HE’D KILL ME. ALEX: CASE SAID HE’S A NEW MAN THANKS TO THE MANY PROGRAMS OFFERED TO HELP INMATES REHABILITATE. >> I KNEW I NEEDED TO CHANGE EVERYTHING ABOUT ME AND BECOME A WHOLE DIFFERENT PERSON. ALEX: THE PAROLE BOARD NOTED CASE’S GOOD BEHAVIOR AND HARD WORK BEHIND BARS, BUT SHARED CONCERNS ABOUT HIS LONG HISTORY OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. VAN DAM SAYS LETTING HIM EVEN FOR WORK RELEASE WOULD MEAN SHE AND HER SON WOULD CONSTANTLY LIVE IN FEAR. >> I KNOW HE LOOKS LIKE A MODEL INMATE ON PAPER, BUT HE HAS BEEN A MODEL INMATE BEFORE. AND WHEN HE WAS RELEASED HE WENT BACK TO USING DRUGS. TORMENTED ME. THREATENED ME AND MY FAMILIES LIVES. BEAT ME. HELD ME PRISONER. AND WHEN I TRIED

Advertisement Man convicted of shooting girlfriend in head denied parole A man convicted of shooting his girlfriend in the head was denied parole in a hearing Wednesday morning. Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A Des Moines man convicted of shooting his girlfriend in 2014 will remain in prison after being denied parole.Brian Case went before a judge Wednesday for a parole hearing after serving less than five years of his 45-year sentence.Case's victim, Ellie Van Dam, survived the shooting and appeared in court to ensure he remained behind bars."Letting him out would be a great risk to this community," Van Dam said.Van Dam, who still has deafness in her left ear and severed nerves as a result of the shooting, asked the parole board not to let Case out of prison so soon."Shooting me was not an accident," she said. "It was not an isolated incident. He held me at gunpoint regularly and said if I crossed him, he'd kill me."Case argued that he is a new man thanks to the programs offered to help inmates rehabilitate."I knew I needed to change everything about me and become a whole different person," he said in court.The parole board noted Case's good behavior and hard work behind bars but shared concerns about his long history of criminal behavior.Van Dam said that granting Case work-release would cause her and her son to live in constant fear."I know he looks like a model inmate on paper, but he has been a model inmate before," she said. "And when he was released, he went back to using drugs, tormented me, threatened me and my family's lives, beat me, held me prisoner and when I tried to leave him, he shot me in the head."Case will be up for parole again in nine months.