Another New Trial Ordered in Tot’s Death

For the second time, a state appellate court Thursday granted a new trial to an Orange man convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his 2-year-old stepdaughter.

The 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana, in reversing the conviction against 37-year-old Leland Roy Dellinger, cited faulty jury instructions defining second-degree murder.

Dellinger was first convicted of first-degree murder seven years ago in the May 29, 1979, death of Jaclyn C. Zilles.

Dellinger had married the girl’s mother, Diane, and was in the process of adopting the girl when she died from either a head injury or by ingesting cocaine. At his trial, doctors said both were contributing factors in her death.

Dellinger said the girl fell down a set of seven steps. He did, however, admit putting wine in the baby’s milk bottle that day in an attempt to calm her down.

Conviction Reduced

Dellinger’s conviction was reduced to second-degree murder by then-Judge James F. Judge, who sentenced Dellinger to 15 years to life in prison.

During the first trial, a biomedical engineer who testified for the prosecution used mannequins in an attempt to re-create the incident and used computer analysis to support her findings. The prosecutors used the unusual experiment to show inconsistencies in Dellinger’s story.

In reducing the sentence, Judge cited the experiment and said he did not believe that it proved first-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt.