Dally, Haun’s Arraignment on Murder Charges Postponed

Sneaking warm glances at each other, murder suspects Michael Dally and Diana Haun appeared briefly in Ventura County Superior Court on Monday on charges that they kidnapped and killed Dally’s wife of 14 years in a carefully plotted crime.

Dally, a 36-year-old Oxnard grocery clerk, smiled as he was led into court. Unshaven and dressed in jail blues, he leaned back casually at the defense table as Haun walked into the packed courtroom a few minutes later.

Wearing matching garb, she glanced quickly at him and smiled. Dally and Haun--whose adulterous affair drew police attention when the body of Dally’s brutally slain wife was discovered in June--were scheduled to be arraigned on murder charges and related allegations in the death of Sherri Dally.

But the arraignment was postponed until Dec. 4 to give defense attorneys time to review transcripts of recent grand jury proceedings.

The Ventura County Grand Jury indicted Haun three months ago on charges that she kidnapped and murdered Sherri Dally, a 36-year-old homemaker and day-care operator who was abducted from a Ventura shopping center parking lot in May. Her body was found a month later in a ravine north of Ventura.

Although the grand jury did not indict Michael Dally at that time, its investigation remained open until last week, when the closed-door panel handed down a new set of charges against Dally and Haun.

The grand jury indicted each of them on charges of murder, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and the special circumstances that the alleged slaying was committed for financial gain and while lying in wait.

Dally and Haun, who had been having an affair for more than two years, were expected to plead not guilty to the murder and related charges at the arraignment.

With the arraignment postponed, the attorneys used the time to sort out a number of legal issues.

One of Dally’s two court-appointed attorneys asked Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones to grant his client jail privileges, such as paper and a pencil, that he said are now being denied.

“They seem to be taking unusual precautions with Mr. Dally,” said defense attorney Willard P. Wixell, who is defending the longtime Ventura resident with co-counsel James Farley. Prosecutors offered no explanation for Dally’s treatment in jail.

As the attorneys argued the issue of jail privileges and other legal points, Dally and Haun sat at opposite ends of a defense table exchanging quick looks and smiling as Sherri Dally’s mother, family friends and Ventura Police Department detectives who spent 6 1/2 months assembling the case looked on.

Dally was arrested Friday afternoon and held in the medical section of Ventura County Jail over the weekend. Haun has been in custody since her arrest in August.

Although her trial has been set for Feb. 3, prosecutors said it could be delayed as a result of the revised indictment against her and the new indictment against Dally.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Janes said that his office is planning to prosecute Dally and Haun simultaneously, but cautioned that a final decision hasn’t been made.

“Most likely the cases would be tried together,” Janes said. “That prevents witnesses from having to testify multiple times.”

Unless there is a compelling legal reason not to combine their cases, Janes said: “I think generally it is in the public interest to have just one trial.”

Combining the cases, however, could create difficulties that would delay and complicate the trial, defense attorneys said.

“Multiple-defendant cases with multiple lawyers are always more complex than two-party cases,” said Deputy Public Defender Neil Quinn, who is representing Haun.

“You’ve got someone else to be heard in every motion,” Quinn explained. “Sometimes there are situations where there is certain evidence that can be for or against one party. It can complicate the issues.”

Quinn added that he does not want the scheduled trial date delayed.

“We would like to go to trial in February,” Quinn said. “I think that is possible.”