Trial of Solana Beach Woman in Husband’s Slaying Opens

A jury heard opening statements Thursday in the murder trial of a Solana Beach woman who claims she was acting in self-defense when she killed her husband and buried him in a vegetable garden.

Kimberly Delon, 34, is charged with stabbing 34-year Bernard Delon to death Aug. 31.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ann Barber told jurors that a 6-foot-long, 2-foot-deep grave dug the day before proves that the killing was premeditated. She said she would present evidence that Delon sought a professional carpet cleaner to remove blood that had been spilled on the carpet in the couple’s bedroom.

Defense attorney Charles Goldberg portrayed Delon as an emotionally battered woman whose husband had recently resorted to physical violence.

“He was in the process of choking her and trying to kill her” when Delon grabbed a knife hidden in the couple’s bed and stabbed him, he said.

Delon buried her husband to protect her two children from the sight, and only after her husband had threatened her with the same fate, Goldberg said. Her attorney said the knife had been in the bed for several months for protection because Bernard Delon often worked late at night.

Goldberg said that Delon had dug the hole to prepare for a fall planting.

The first witness was Eugene Schwartz, a San Diego tree trimmer who said he had been Delon’s friend for two years. The day after the killing, Schwartz said, Delon was shaken and acting erratically.

She said her husband had tried to kill her and she could not call authorities, Schwartz testified.

Schwartz said the bedroom floor was covered with white sheets and the weight of his steps caused the sheets to soak up blood on the carpeting.

“ ‘Can’t we just pull it up and get rid of it--and get rid of him,’ ” Delon said, according to Schwartz.

Schwartz said Delon insisted on arranging a box of men’s shoes and did some laundry, some of which was already clean, while saying “I’m going to jail, aren’t I.”

The trial resumes today.