his groin. Bennett said she did not see Wanger at first. She said she suddenly saw two livid flashes, then Lang slumped to the ground. As soon as she recognized who had fired the shots, she told Wanger, "Get away and leave us alone." He tossed the pistol into his wife's car. She and the parking lot's service station manager took Lang to the agent's doctor. He was taken to a hospital, where he recovered. The police, who had heard the shots, came to the scene and found the gun in Bennett's car when they took Wanger into custody. Wanger was booked and fingerprinted, and underwent lengthy questioning. He was booked on suspicion of assault with intent to commit murder. "I shot him because I thought he was breaking up my home," Wanger told the chief of police of Beverly Hills. Bennett denied a romance, however. "But if Walter thinks the relationships between Mr. Lang and myself are romantic or anything but strictly business, he is wrong," she declared. She blamed the trouble on financial setbacks involving film productions Wanger was involved with, and said he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The following day Wanger, out on bond, returned to their Holmby Hills home, collected his belongings and moved out. Bennett, however, said there would not be a divorce. The following excerpt is from the book On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder (1998, p. 431) by Ed Sikov: On December 14, Bennett issued a statement in which she said she hoped her husband "will not be blamed too much" for wounding her agent. She read the prepared statement in the bedroom of her home to a group of newspapermen while TV cameras recorded the scene. Wanger's attorney, Jerry Giesler, mounted a "temporary insanity" defense. Wanger then decided to waive his rights to a jury and threw himself on the mercy of the court. He served a four-month sentence in the County Honor Farm at Castaic, 39 miles north of Downtown Los Angeles, quickly returning to his career to make a series of successful films. During this time period Walter Mirisch of Allied Artists had Wanger's name put on Kansas Pacific (1953) as a producer, although he was still in prison. This allowed Wanger to receive a producer's billing, salary and profit participation. The entire experience with the criminal charges and jail sentence affected