San Diego

Prosecutors will rest their case next week in the fraud and tax-evasion trial of Nancy Hoover Hunter, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. S. Gay Hugo.

Hugo made the statement Tuesday to U.S. District Judge Earl B. Gilliam while asking for a list of the first 10 witnesses that Hunter’s attorneys plan to call in her defense.

Hunter is facing a 234-count indictment stemming from the huge Ponzi scheme formulated by J. David & Co., which collapsed in February, 1984. Her trial began nearly five months ago.

Prosecutors have called to the stand about 100 investors, various J. David employees and several federal investigators in an attempt to prove that Hunter was a knowing participant in the fraud coordinated by J. David (Jerry) Dominelli, who is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison.

Last week, Hunter’s attorneys presented a potential-witness list to Gilliam and prosecutors that contains 529 names. Once the prosecution rests its case, defense attorneys Richard Marmaro and Robert Brewer Jr. will call witnesses from that list who they hope will prove Hunter’s claim that she didn’t know about Dominelli’s activities.

Meanwhile, Gilliam told Hunter’s attorneys that he was turning over several pages of transcripts from testimony and interviews of Dominelli. After reviewing hundreds of pages of grand jury transcripts, notes taken by FBI agents and a transcript of the J. David bankruptcy proceedings, Gilliam released the material that he felt could be used by the defense.