Was Dutiful, Obedient, Hunter Says

Nancy Hoover Hunter, testifying for a second day Thursday at her fraud and tax-evasion trial, portrayed herself as a dutiful worker who obediently followed the directions of J. David (Jerry) Dominelli because she trusted and believed him.

Hunter said she “wanted to do everything” to help Dominelli during the first few years of business at his La Jolla investment firm, J. David & Co., because at the time, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, she thought he was a genius.

Hunter is being tried on 197 charges in U.S. District Court related to her alleged participation in the investment company’s giant Ponzi scheme, which collapsed in February, 1984.

Prosecutors allege that Hunter played an active role in the fraud, which cost about 1,200 investers $80 million.

Defense attorneys claim that Hunter was blinded by her love for Dominelli and was unaware of his illegal activities.

In line with that theme, Hunter said Thursday that among her jobs during the early years at J. David was helping Dominelli assemble track records of his trading profits--but only, she said, at his direction and with records and documents he supplied.

In a related matter, Judge Earl B. Gilliam ruled Thursday that a diary Hunter kept in 1979 and love letters Dominelli sent her in 1980 could not be admitted as evidence in the trial.

Hunter’s attorney, Richard Marmaro of Los Angeles, had argued that Hunter’s love for Dominelli led to her “good faith belief” in him, and that faith, in turn, could lead the jury to find her innocent of the charges against her. But Gilliam said Hunter’s love was not in dispute, so the material was not relevant.

Hunter returns to the witness stand today. Her testimony is expected to last at least through next Tuesday.