Father Freed After Judge Refuses to Let Girl, 3, Testify

Harry J. Conklin, the Reseda man charged with murdering his 38-year-old wife in front of the couple’s 3-year-old daughter last August, walked out of a Van Nuys court a free man Friday.

Prosecutors asked Judge Melvin B. Grover to dismiss the murder charge, saying that because of the judge’s refusal to allow the daughter to testify, the evidence against Conklin was insufficient to bring the case to trial.

“We’ve concluded that because of this court’s decision to preclude at trial the essential testimony of the eyewitness, we can not proceed at this time,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert McIntosh told the court.

But McIntosh said that the murder charge against Conklin might be refiled in the future. “We will proceed searching for evidence,” he said. “The district attorney’s office has the option of reopening the case when and if additional information implicating Mr. Conklin is obtained.”

Not Relieved, Conklin Says

As Conklin walked rapidly out of the courthouse Friday after four months in custody, he said that he was not relieved by the dismissal of charges against him. Even though he is now free, Conklin said, “so is whoever killed my wife.”

Still to be determined is who will have custody of Conklin’s daughter, Amanda.

The girl was made a ward of the court after Conklin’s arrest. On Oct. 15 her maternal aunt, Brenda Barry, was given temporary custody.

A custody hearing has been scheduled for March 15.

Conklin has said he will ask for his daughter to be returned to him. But Barry said she may contest Conklin’s claim to the girl.

“Amanda is terrified of her father,” Barry said Friday. “She doesn’t want to go back to him. She’s scared.”

The defendant’s brother, Vic Conklin, said Harry Conklin’s parents plan to move to Los Angeles to help care for Amanda. In the meantime, he said, Harry Conklin will seek to return to his part-time job as a studio grip.

‘Lost Almost Everything’

“Harry has lost almost everything,” Vic Conklin said. “He lost his wife, his job, and now they want to take his daughter away.”

Conklin, 39, was arrested one month after his wife, Darlene, was found lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen of the couple’s home. A coroner testified at a preliminary hearing that she was shot with two revolvers at point-blank range.

One week after the Aug. 22 slaying, police said, the couple’s daughter told them that she had seen her father shoot her mother. Based largely on the girl’s statement, Conklin was charged with murder Oct. 3.

Prosecutors said they were ready to proceed with their case against Conklin, provided that the girl was allowed to testify against her father. At a hearing in Superior Court to determine whether Amanda was competent to serve as a trial witness, the girl told Judge Grover, “I don’t want to look at my daddy because of what he did to my mommy.”

On Feb. 1 Grover ruled that because of the girl’s age, she would not be allowed as a witness.

Because there is no statute of limitations in murder cases, McIntosh said, his office may wait until Amanda reaches an age when her testimony can be accepted in court.

But Conklin’s attorney, Barry Taylor, said that even with the girl’s testimony, the case against his client would be weak.

“The police could not find a motive, and because they didn’t have any physical evidence, they decided to use the testimony of a 3-year-old girl to send a man to prison. I’m not so sure a jury would have believed her,” Taylor said.

No Murder Weapons Found

Police said the murder weapons have not been recovered. Conklin has maintained that he was at a Burbank studio at the time of the slaying.

Prosecutors said, however, that one month before the murder, Conklin confided to a friend that he “was going to have to get rid” of his wife. Police also said they found hidden in a headboard in the couple’s master bedroom a book called the “Death Dealer’s Manual,” giving step-by-step procedures for killing someone.

But Taylor, a deputy public defender, said such evidence was merely circumstantial. “He supposedly said he wasn’t happy with his wife, and he bought a book that looked strange,” Taylor said. “You can’t charge a man with murder based on just that.”

Taylor said he welcomes a continuing investigation of the case. “There’s a murderer somewhere out there, and the police have a duty to find out who he is,” he said.