Analysis Ordered of Letter in Murder Trial : Courts: Experts will examine the note the triggerman contends the victim’s wife sent him, admitting her role in the death.

A San Fernando Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered a handwriting analysis to determine the authenticity of a letter in which a Woodland Hills woman on trial for murder purportedly admits her role in the machine-gun slaying of her pornographer husband.

The existence of the letter, which came to light unexpectedly on Wednesday, would greatly aid the prosecution if it is authenticated, but could give a boost to the defense if it proves to be a fraud.

The prosecution’s chief witness, Victor Diaz, the confessed triggerman in the killing, stunned the court when he testified that defendant Sharon Snyder had sent a letter to him from jail last year and that he had turned it over to his attorney. Snyder, 41, is accused of hiring Diaz, 47, to kill her husband, flamboyant sex-video producer Theodore J. Snyder.

Snyder was shot repeatedly on a Northridge street on Aug. 1, 1989.

Diaz has made a deal with Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence E. Mason for a reduced sentence in return for testifying against Snyder.

In testimony earlier this week, Diaz, a longtime cocaine supplier to the Snyders, said that he killed Theodore Snyder at the defendant’s request because he was in love with her and because she had promised to share her inheritance with him.

Diaz’s disclosure of the letter came during cross-examination by Snyder’s attorney, Alex R. Kessel. The attorney reacted with glee.

“It’s an obvious phony and it’s going to completely discredit Diaz,” Kessel said after reading the hand-printed 1 1/2-page letter.

He said that the name Snyder is misspelled as “Synder” and that markings on the envelope indicate it did not originate from the jail where Snyder has been held since she and Diaz were arrested 19 months ago.

Kessel maintains that Diaz, who admitted in court that Theodore Snyder had threatened to kill him over a drug-related dispute, killed the pornographer “on his own and for his own reasons.”

Judge Malcolm H. Mackey refused to allow reporters to see the letter until a handwriting expert completes an analysis and testifies in court, probably today or Monday.

Kessel said he had heard reports from jail inmates that Diaz was talking freely about such a letter, but expected him to deny those reports during cross-examination.

“At first I was taken aback,” Kessel said, and concerned that he had brought out evidence that could help the prosecution. “But then I realized this was going to discredit Mr. Diaz.”

Diaz’s lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Alan Budde, surrendered the letter Thursday morning. He refused to answer reporters’ questions about the letter or how it might affect his client’s case.

Mason, who has been prosecuting the case for more than a year, told the judge he had never heard of the letter.

Mason has refused to discuss the case except to acknowledge that Diaz has been promised that if he testifies against Snyder, he will be allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder and be sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Snyder, who is charged with murder, could be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole if jurors decide she killed her husband for financial gain, as charged by the prosecution.

In testimony Thursday, Delmar J. Tabak and Kevin J. Overturf, both friends of Diaz’s daughter Trisha, provided evidence that seemed to advance both the prosecution and defense.

The two were among a group of young people who lived at the Snyder home on Topanga Canyon Boulevard during the four months between Theodore Snyder’s death and Sharon Snyder’s arrest. They testified that they saw no evidence of the romantic link that Diaz had claimed to exist between him and Snyder.

Tabak said that Snyder “sometimes said she missed her husband,” but also had boasted of shooting Theodore Snyder in the knee years ago in a dispute.

Overturf quoted the defendant as saying she had killed Theodore Snyder herself “because he was treating her bad and she got him back.”

Kessel unsuccessfully sought to bar testimony about Snyder personally killing her husband “because even the prosecution is not claiming that that happened.”