Surprise Witness Takes Stand in Waldon Trial : Courts: The wife of Billy Ray Waldon, who is defending himself in murder trial, testifies that government agents tried to frame her husband.

In surprise testimony, the wife of accused killer Billy Ray Waldon implied Friday that federal agents had framed Waldon for the three murders and 21 other crimes he is accused of committing.

The crux of Waldon’s defense during his trial in San Diego Superior Court has been that he was targeted by FBI and CIA agents because he had founded “the exiled government of the Cherokee nation” in Switzerland in 1984. Waldon, who is taking the unusual step of acting as his own attorney in what could be a death penalty case, has said that he is part American-Indian.

Waldon, who calls himself by his purported Cherokee name of Nvwtohiyada Idehesdi Sequoyah, produced a surprise witness Friday----his wife, Brigitte Sequoyah, who gave Waldon an alibi for two of the crimes of which he is accused.

The charges against Waldon, 39, include three murders, one attempted murder, a rape and the malicious killing of animals that occurred in 1985 and 1986. Further, police in Tulsa, Okla., say that Waldon, an Oklahoma native, is a suspect in four robberies and assaults and one murder in the Tulsa area.

Police first suspected Waldon of the crimes on Dec. 20, 1985, when they chased a man driving Waldon’s car after the man had held a woman at gunpoint and stolen her purse. When the car blew a tire, the man abandoned it and fled on foot, eluding police.

When police examined the car, they found it was registered to Waldon. Police found Waldon’s belongings and items such as photos and driver’s licenses that were connected to other crimes of which Waldon is accused.

However, Brigitte Sequoyah testified that, on Dec. 20, 1985, Waldon was kidnaped and his car stolen. She recounted that she and Waldon drove to Imperial Beach that night, and he went out to the pier to meet a man, telling her not to follow because he might be in danger.

When Waldon and the man, whom Sequoyah said was named Mark Williams, began to walk away from the car, Sequoyah decided to follow them anyway, she said. They walked into a small alley off Palm Avenue, at which point she stopped following them, she told the court.

After waiting outside the alley for a while, she decided to go in, where, she testified, she saw Waldon lying face up on the ground, surrounded by Williams and two other men. The two other men wore dark ski masks, dark trousers and sweat shirts that said “Federal Agent” on both the front and back, she said.

“One of them kicked you in the ribs very brutally and said ‘This is for your Cherokee horseshit,’ ” Sequoyah testified.

“I was really scared, and I didn’t know what to do, so I turned around and walked a few steps back so they wouldn’t hear me, and then ran,” she said.

She ran back near Waldon’s car, then saw a brown van pull up to the car, she said. Williams, who was similar in appearance to Waldon, got out of the van and into Waldon’s car and both vehicles drove off, she said.

Sequoyah also testified that, when she met Waldon for the first time in July, 1985, he was speaking with Williams, who referred to Karen Eiben, a San Diego police officer. Williams spoke about Eiben in a manner that led Sequoyah to believe that the two had been living together.

Eiben was the only police officer to identify Waldon as the man police chased on Dec. 20, 1985, and had testified earlier in the trial that Waldon was the man in the car.

Prosecutor Mike Carpenter had objected to Waldon putting Sequoyah on the stand because he had not been notified before her testimony.

“Obviously, we weren’t given notice of this witness, and we weren’t given discovery of anything she said,” Carpenter said outside the courtroom.

Also, Carpenter said he did not know who Mark Williams was, noting there has been no reference to Williams by previous witnesses. Waldon, in a telephone interview with The Times after Friday’s proceedings, said Williams was an agent of the FBI and CIA.

Twice during Sequoyah’s testimony, some members of the jury had to suppress laughter, including one point where Sequoyah said she and Waldon made love in the back of a car.

“They were listening very attentively. I hope in my heart they were believing the truth that they heard,” Waldon said during the interview.

Sequoyah is slated to resume her testimony Monday, but has said that she must return to Switzerland or risk losing her job. Superior Court Judge David Gill said that, if she does not return for cross-examination, her testimony will be stricken from the record.