Famalaro Home Search Ruled Legal

Attorneys for murder defendant John J. Famalaro suffered another legal setback Monday when a Superior Court judge ruled that prosecutors will be allowed to present virtually all of their crucial evidence in the case.

Judge Kathleen E. O’Leary said that Famalaro’s Arizona home was legally searched by law enforcement officials in July 1994. She said officers acted in “good faith” in collecting most of the items.

Famalaro stands trial later this month in the death of Newport Beach resident Denise Huber, whose nude, handcuffed and frozen body was found in a freezer stored in a truck parked in the driveway of Famalaro’s home. Huber disappeared while on her way home from a concert in 1991 and had been missing for more than three years.

O’Leary said the “unusual circumstance” of the grisly discovery gave officers the right to collect a wide range of items during their search of the premises.

Among the evidence seized: Huber’s clothes; newspaper articles about Huber’s disappearance and articles on serial killers and infamous murders; a nail puller believed to be the murder weapon and keys to the freezer and the handcuffs.

The judge also allowed a number of sexually explicit materials to remain in evidence, saying the 23-year-old victim, because she was found nude, “appears to be sexually assaulted.”

Famalaro, 39, faces the death penalty if he is convicted of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and bludgeoning Huber to death. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The defense had argued for the suppression of evidence on the grounds that the first officer on the scene trespassed and violated Famalaro’s right to privacy, that the search warrants issued were too broad and did not sufficiently limit what officers could collect, and that officers interpreted the search warrants too broadly.

The judge said that when she looked at the situation officers were faced with at the time they found Huber’s body--when they suspected there might be other victims on the property--their actions were not outside the law. In addition to searching the house, they dug up the suspect’s yard in a search for possible other bodies. None was ever found.

O’Leary did suppress the use of several minor items such as photographs and school records that the prosecution did not plan to introduce during the trial.

Prosecutors have maintained that the searches were legal. They declined to comment on O’Leary’s ruling. Co-defense attorney Denise Gragg also declined comment.

O’Leary’s ruling comes three days after another judge denied a motion by the defense to have the case moved out of Orange County because of extensive pretrial publicity.

Jury selection is to begin Monday. More than 1,000 potential jurors have been ordered for the trial.