Drake Says Killing Will Haunt Him

VENTURA â€”  Edward Nishida Drake walked out of the Ventura County Jail on Thursday afternoon, clutching a Manila envelope full of letters from his two children and three-quarters of a science fiction novel he wrote during the 90 days he spent in jail.

He sighed and said he was tired. And relieved.

“I’m ready to get on with my life,� said Drake, 52, shortly after jurors declared him not guilty of murder or manslaughter in the shooting of 17-year-old Leonard Anthony Coppola. “But there’s no winners in this. There’s still a kid dead. And it’ll haunt me for the rest of my life.�

If the lifelong gun owner who once kept 80 firearms at his Simi Valley shop has learned anything, he said, it is that he never again wants to have anything to do with firearms.

Over the previous days, Drake, a short, muscular man, went through a riot of emotions. First, he learned the jury had acquitted him on second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter charges.

But when the jury deadlocked on the charge of involuntary manslaughter--which could have put him in prison for up to 14 years--Drake was sure jurors would eventually find him guilty.

“It’s scary. Your life is in the hands of 12 people who you don’t know, and who don’t know you,� Drake said. When the judge announced the not-guilty verdict, Drake said he couldn’t believe it.

On Thursday afternoon, Drake left jail and headed home--a sailboat named Drachen docked in Oxnard. During a sometimes somber car ride, he said he was anxious to see his cat, Scupper, to call his children and have a cup of real coffee.

He plans to sail his boat to the South Seas and live there for up to five years--alone with his thoughts. When troubled, “men tend to retreat into their cave and be alone,� he said.

Drake said he still was in shock after his release. Letting out a quick, nervous laugh, he rubbed his temples and said he felt bad about what happened, calling it a tragic accident.

“But I can’t feel as bad as Leonard’s mother feels,� he said. “If it happened to my kids, I would want to rip the throat out of somebody and watch him get shot.�

Drake spoke publicly for the first time since his arrest about the few minutes that left Coppola dead, the memory of which still interrupts his sleep with nightmares.

On the night of Oct. 10, 1997, Drake was asleep on the cot he kept at his auto-repair shop when a loud rattle startled him awake. Drake said he opened the door and saw a shadow. Seconds later, he said, he saw a bright light and heard a loud “boom.�

He said his heart was pounding and he thought he had been shot. He searched his body for a bullet hole, but couldn’t find one. That’s when he knew he had shot someone.

“I still don’t know what happened,� Drake said. “I’ve gone through . . . that night over and over. But it’s fruitless. I can’t change what happened.�

That night, he said, changed his life forever. A native of the deep South, Drake learned to shoot a gun when he was 5 years old. As an adult, he amassed a collection of guns and taught his two children to shoot when they were still in grammar school.

He owned about 80 guns, including hunting rifles, shotguns and target rifles. Except for one .44-caliber magnum revolver, Drake kept the collection locked in a cabinet at the shop. He said he was afraid to keep the guns around his children.

Now he wishes he hadn’t kept even that one gun within reach.

Ten days after Coppola’s death, Drake sold his collection to a friend for about $25,000. He used the money to pay for his son’s college tuition.

Now, he said, he supports some forms of gun control, such as electronic locks on guns.

“After [Coppola’s death] I never wanted to see another gun again in my life,� Drake said.