Judge Won’t Allow Diary Entries of Pamela Russ Entered as Evidence : Courts: Ruling called ‘bad blow’ to defense of husband Charles Russ, on trial in the slaying of his wife.

Excerpts from the diaries of Pamela Russ, which a defense attorney sought to use in defending her husband, who is charged in her killing, were excluded from evidence Friday by a Superior Court judge.

Defense attorney Bill Youmans called Judge Michael Wellington’s ruling “a bad blow but not a fatal blow” to his case.

Youmans said that the loss of Pamela Russ’ writings to back up Charles Russ’ testimony in his own defense, leaves Russ “with his words standing there stark naked without any corroboration.” Youmans had sought to admit as evidence nine entries of the dead woman’s more than 600 pages of personal writings.

In his opening statements to the jury Wednesday, the attorney suggested that the dead woman’s writings showed that she had knowledge of her husband’s dire financial straits and of money taken from her mother for investment that was used instead to attempt to bail out Russ’ business and to maintain the couple’s high-flying lifestyle.

Pamela Russ’ body was found lying in the roadway on a desolate stretch of coastal highway south of Del Mar on Feb. 1, 1987. Police investigators testified that the woman had been run over and dragged by her own car, a Mercedes-Benz abandoned nearby.

Six months after his wife’s death and without collecting the $600,000 in life insurance he had taken out on her, Russ disappeared. He was found and arrested in Hollywood, Fla., in August, 1989, after the story of the killing was carried on a national television show.

Judge Wellington said Friday that the statements from the dead woman’s diaries are not admissible because they are hearsay and not covered under the rules that allow hearsay evidence to be admitted in evidence. He expressed concern that the jurors had heard Youmans’ interpretation of the diary excerpts, but said he would not instruct them to disregard the material until later in the trial, before the defense presents its case.

Prosecutor Mark Pettine exploded at the judge’s delay.

“Each day when the jury members come in and take their seats, they are going to be convinced that Pamela Russ wrote something (in her diaries) that she didn’t write. . . . I want to take that falsehood out of their minds,” Pettine said in urging the judge to inform the jury immediately that the dairies are inadmissible.

Then Youmans turned to Pettine and told the attorney, “I’m tired of being characterized as a liar and worse.”

The judge quieted the two irate attorneys, telling them, “You are too good at what you do to let these personal digs and diatribes get in the way.”

During the Friday hearing, held without the jury present, Youmans and attorney Richard Siref argued that writings of the murdered woman should be admitted into evidence because they showed her state of mind in being “excited and maybe nervous” over plans of the couple to move to Australia, leaving his defunct telemarketing business behind.

The judge delayed a ruling on one diary entry that dealt with Pamela Russ telling a friend that she was nervous about carrying around a large amount of cash. The judge said he hadn’t read the thick diaries, “and there conceivably may be parts of it which can be admitted into evidence.”