Key Hearing Slated Today in Russ Case : Justice: Judge will decide whether slaying victim’s diary can be entered as evidence.

Whether or not the personal diaries of slaying victim Pamela Russ will be allowed in the trial of her husband and accused killer, Charles Russ, will be decided today by a Superior Court judge.

Defense attorney Bill Youmans and prosecutor Mark Pettine will argue the issue of allowing introduction of Pamela’s diaries in a special hearing before Judge Michael Wellington without the jury present.

During his opening argument at the start of Russ’s murder trial, Youmans said he intended to prove, through the diaries, that the 33-year-old victim was aware of her husband’s sometimes shady business dealings and aided him in keeping secret their dire financial situation.

But Pettine interrupted Youman’s statements frequently to ask for a conference of the two lawyers and the judge out of hearing of the jury during the opening day of the trial.

Youmans contends that the 40-year-old Russ had no motive for killing his artist wife early on the morning of Feb. 1, 1987, on a stretch of highway south of Del Mar. He argued that Pamela Russ was attacked and killed by an assailant for a large amount of cash, which she reportedly was carrying, and claims that the dead woman’s diaries bear out the story.

Neither Youmans nor Pettine would comment on today’s hearing, both saying that they were not permitted to do so.

On Thursday, the second day of Russ’s trial, Pettine, a deputy district attorney, continued to call witnesses detailing the scene of the murder nearly four years ago, and Youmans countered in cross-examination in trying to show that the woman’s bleeding injuries could have been caused, at least in part, by an assailant using a blunt instrument.

Pamela Russ’s body was discovered by two security guards at a nearby business complex lying in the northbound lanes of Torrey Pines Road.

Dr. John Eisele, a forensic pathologist with the coroner’s office, testified Thursday that Pamela Russ died of a fractured skull and a broken neck, but conceded under Youmans’ cross-examination that some of her many injuries might have been caused by a smooth, blunt instrument.

The dead woman’s Mercedes-Benz, found parked near the body, had blood smears on both sides and on the hood, Eisele testified. The automobile also had blood, human flesh and pieces of clothing on its undercarriage, bearing out prosecutor Pettine’s contention that Charles Russ had argued with his wife, followed her in his car, also a Mercedes-Benz, then caught up with her on the deserted stretch of highway and used her car to run her down as she tried to flee on foot.

Also testifying Thursday was Richard Hoover, a national executive of Paralyzed Veterans of America, who said the San Diego PVA chapter had a contract with Russ’s telemarketing business under which the firm conducted telephone fund-raising solicitation for the veterans’ organization in the mid-1980s.

Under the contract, Hoover said, Russ’s firm received 90% of the proceeds, and the veterans’ group received 10%.

Hoover also testified that Russ’s marketing group had been charged with fraud by the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office because phone solicitors in the San Francisco Bay Area allegedly had told potential donors that all the funds given would go to the veterans’ group.