San Diego

The defense rested its case Tuesday in the David Lucas murder trial after hearing 100 witnesses. Lucas was not one of them.

Lucas, 33, of Spring Valley, is charged with killing six people between 1979 and 1984, including four in East County. The throats of all the victims were slashed.

Steve Feldman, one of Lucas’ attorneys, declined to comment on why Lucas did not testify.

The prosecution immediately began presenting its rebuttal witnesses.

The first rebuttal witness Tuesday was Michael Jacobs, who was the first witness the prosecution presented on Jan. 3, when the trial began.

Jacobs is the husband of Suzanne Jacobs, 31, who was found slain in their Normal Heights home on May 4, 1979, along with their 3-year-old son, Colin. Jacobs testified briefly Tuesday about what time he usually left home.

The trial is in recess for the rest of the week, although the attorneys will be discussing jury instructions with San Diego Superior Court Judge Laura Hammes today.

The defense began putting on witnesses April 17, beginning with the Jacobs case. They presented a prisoner with a long record whose Southern drawl and amusing stories brought smiles to the faces of jurors.

That witness was Jimmy Joe Nelson, who said that Johnny Massingale had confessed to him that he killed Suzanne and Colin Jacobs. Massingale, 33, of Harlan, Ky., once was charged in the Jacobs’ homicides, but those charges were dismissed after Lucas was arrested Dec. 16, 1984.

The defense also called a Kentucky detective, Denny Pace, who told jurors about his interview with Massingale in which Massingale admitted he felt guilty about the slayings. Massingale, who is slightly retarded, was coaxed by authorities to confess to the slayings out of fear, his lawyers have said.

Another witness, Lucas’ mother, Patricia Katzemaier, testified April 27 that her purple sports car was inoperable when the Jacobs homicides occurred and that her son could not have driven her car there. The testimony about the car was presented to contradict a prosecution witness who said she saw a maroon sports car in the Jacobs driveway the day of the slaying, even though maroon and purple are different colors.

Lucas’ mother and seven other people testified that Lucas was attending his niece’s birthday party at dusk Dec. 8, 1981--the time that real estate saleswoman Gayle Garcia was killed.

Garcia, 29, was found in a vacant Spring Valley house she had been showing to a prospective renter.

Earlier this month, the ex-husband and friends of murder victim Rhonda Strang testified about her fear of her husband, Robert Strang, and his involvement with drugs. One of the rebuttal witnesses was Robert Strang’s former employer, and Feldman questioned him about his working habits and possible drug use.

Robert Strang’s whereabouts is not known now, but Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Williams said prosecutors located him in 1984 with no problem.

Rhonda Strang, 24, was killed Oct. 23, 1984, along with the 3-year-old girl she was baby-sitting, Amber Fisher, in her Lakeside house.

The defense presented testimony that Jodie Santiago Robertson, 34, of Seattle, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder--apparently to cause jurors to doubt her identification of Lucas as her attacker. Robertson testified as one of the last prosecution witnesses that Lucas kidnaped her from an El Cajon restaurant June 8, 1984, took her to his house, then choked her to unconsciousness before cutting her throat. She has identified Lucas as her assailant six times in court and is the prosecution’s key witness to show a pattern of throat slashings.

Lucas is also charged with killing University of San Diego student Anne Swanke, 22, after her car ran out of gas in La Mesa on Nov. 22, 1984.

Lucas could face the death penalty if convicted.