Schill’s Secretary Grilled About Relationship : Trial: Defense attorney confronts her with evidence seeming to suggest she had affair with her boss, who is accused of trying to kill her fiance.

An attorney for a San Juan Capistrano businessman accused of trying to kill his secretary’s fiance bombarded the woman with questions and seemingly scandalous evidence Thursday, suggesting that she lied about not having a sexual affair with her boss.

During an intense cross-examination, Cynthia Asher, 24, of Lake Forest admitted that her boss, Julius F. Schill, bought her expensive gifts and frequently wined and dined her. Her admissions came after she was confronted with Schill’s credit card receipts--some of which she had signed his name to.

Asher was also shown receipts from hotels that were dated and timed just hours after she and Schill had apparently gone shopping and eaten.

In one particularly damaging exchange with defense attorney Allan H. Stokke, Asher admitted that she accompanied Schill on a private boat to Santa Catalina Island one day last summer and came back to a Dana Point resort hotel for dinner but was unable to explain why Schill had rented a hotel room there that same night.

“Would that be just a coincidence?” Stokke asked.

“Could be,” replied Asher. “I don’t know how to answer that for you, sir.”

Despite the rigorous cross-examination, Asher steadfastly denied she ever had a sexual relationship with Schill.

Schill, 57, and co-defendant Richard M. Dota, 55, of Las Vegas are charged with murder for hire and conspiracy in connection with the Oct. 11, 1991, attempted murder of Wilbur Constable, Asher’s fiance. Prosecutors allege that Schill was “so desperate” to have an affair with Asher that he paid Dota $21,000 to kill Constable.

Schill and Dota have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Under direct examination Wednesday, Asher testified that Schill, who is married, promised her a car, a house, a horse farm and a college education if she would have a sexual relationship with him. Asher said she refused his repeated propositions, many of which came during out-of-town business trips.

During those trips, however, Asher and Schill shared a suite or stayed in adjoining rooms, she testified. She said that when they shared a suite, she would get the bedroom, while Schill would sleep in the living room area.

Stokke said during a break in the proceedings Thursday that he doesn’t believe Asher’s testimony. He told the jury during opening statements that his client had no motive to kill Constable because he already had what he wanted: a “sex for money” relationship with Asher. In fact, he told the jury, Asher had more of a motive, since she was named as a beneficiary on Constable’s $100,000 life insurance policy.

During his cross-examination, Stokke repeatedly seemed to fluster Asher with questions and receipts. Several of the hotel receipts Stokke showed her indicated that rooms were rented for just half a day. Some of the rooms apparently were equipped with a Jacuzzi, Stokke told the jury.

Much of the time, Asher was unable to give explanations for the receipts, which showed her using Schill’s credit cards for hundreds of dollars of purchases from department stores.

Asher said that Schill often gave her his credit cards to buy gifts for his wife and herself. On most occasions, Asher would simply sign Schill’s name to the receipt, but at least once she signed one with the name “Cynthia Schill,” the receipts show.

“He used to just send me to places” to shop, she said.

Stokke even accused Asher of testifying in clothes that Schill had bought for her.

“No,” Asher snapped back, “my mother bought this” outfit.

According to Stokke, perhaps the biggest financial benefit Asher gained from her relationship with Schill was the more than $13,000 he gave her to buy a car. The money was given to her in the form of a personal check.

Asher, however, said that the money was a loan, which was being paid back through deductions in her pay at Auto Photo Systems in Tustin, where Schill was president.

Stokke will resume his cross-examination today.