Woman Says Boss Offered Her a House, Car for Sex : Court: ‘He wanted a relationship with me,’ secretary testifies. Businessman is on trial for an unsuccessful murder attempt on her boyfriend.

An Orange County secretary testified Wednesday that her boss, who is on trial for an unsuccessful murder attempt on her boyfriend, promised to buy her a fancy car, a house and a horse farm if she became his sexual “companion.”

“He’d tell me that he could provide a better life for me than” her boyfriend, said Cynthia Asher, 24, of Lake Forest of her 57-year-old boss, Julius F. Schill of San Juan Capistrano. “He wanted a relationship with me.”

In return for the things Schill promised her, Asher said she “would have to entertain him once a week . . . either travel with him...(or) sexually entertain him.”

Asher, who did not look at her former boss as she testified, said she refused his offers.

Schill and co-defendant Richard M. Dota are accused of murder for hire and conspiracy in connection with the Oct. 11, 1991, attempted murder of Wilbur Constable. Prosecutors contend that Schill paid Dota, a reputed mobster linked to the Genovese organized crime family, $21,000 to arrange Constable’s murder. Dota then hired a three-man hit crew, who severely beat and shot Constable in the head, but failed to kill him.

Schill and Dota have maintained their innocence.

On Wednesday, Asher testified that Schill, a married man, repeatedly made sexual overtures to her, even though he knew she was engaged to marry Constable, a 26-year-old former Marine.

She said that the first time Schill approached her about having a sexual relationship was during a business trip to San Francisco in July, 1991. During that trip, Schill asked for one hotel suite for the two of them, she said. When Asher protested the arrangement, Schill agreed to sleep in the living room, while she slept in the bedroom.

But after Asher had put on her pajamas and was preparing to go to bed that night, Schill propositioned her, saying he could give her a better “lifestyle” than she had known with Constable, Asher testified.

At one point, Schill pulled Asher toward him, tried to get her to sit on his lap and attempted to kiss and hug her, she testified. Asher said she simply pushed him away.

“He wanted companionship, someone to talk to and travel with,” Asher said.

“What was your response?” asked Assistant. U.S. Atty Wayne Gross.

“I declined. I was not interested,” Asher said.

Despite the rebuke, Schill, during subsequent business trips to Las Vegas, Panama and Puerto Rico, repeated his offer to buy expensive gifts in exchange for a sexual relationship.

During those trips, the pair either shared a suite or had adjoining rooms, she testified.

When asked why she refused his advances, Asher said she “was happy with Will.” She testified: “Mr. Schill is considerably older than I am. Without being rude, he was not my type.”

Asher also testified that her former boss once asked her “if I would feel any differently (about a relationship) if I were not in a relationship with Will.” She said she responded that she still wouldn’t want to go out with him.

Although she was not cross-examined Wednesday, the defense is expected to challenge Asher’s contention that she and Schill did not have a sexual relationship.

Allan H. Stokke, Schill’s attorney, indicated in opening statements last week that his client had an ongoing “sex-for-money” relationship with Asher. He also said that Asher had more of a motive to kill her boyfriend because she was the beneficiary of more than $100,000 in life insurance on Constable. Stokke said evidence will show that Asher used Schill’s credit cards to buy clothes and other items for herself.

Under direct examination, however, Asher admitted that she used his credit card and occasionally borrowed money from Schill, but said it was nothing unusual and consistent with what occurred in the office of Auto Photo Systems, of which Schill was president.

Toward the end of her testimony Wednesday, prosecutors played for the jury a tape-recorded conversation between Asher and Schill, which they contend catches Schill in several lies about his relationship with Dota. The conversation was recorded at a Tustin restaurant when Asher agreed to be equipped with a body wire. Today, Asher is expected to be extensively cross-examined by defense attorneys.