Attorneys Examine Testimony in Haun Trial

Carol Lake said she rented a blue Nissan Altima to Diana Haun on May 5, 1996.

Margaret Wilmeth recalls watching a blue sedan speed out of a Target parking lot on the morning of May 6, 1996, with Sherri Dally handcuffed in the back seat.

And Stefan Brigati said he sold Haun cleaning products a few hours after Dally disappeared.

The testimony of these witnesses was offered in the murder trial of Diana Haun on Thursday as prosecutors continued to present pieces of circumstantial evidence that they say links Haun to the abduction and slaying of Dally.

Defense attorneys, however, called into question the statements of several witnesses by pointing out discrepancies and potential biases in their testimony.

The 12 regular and six alternate jurors deciding Haun’s case were excused for a long weekend late Thursday and are scheduled to return to Ventura County Superior Court on Monday. So far, the jury has heard testimony from 47 witnesses in the first two weeks of trial.

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One of those witnesses, Wilmeth of Ventura, told the jury Thursday that she watched Sherri Dally being placed into the back seat of a teal-colored car driven by a woman with short blond hair. The driver was wearing a tan pantsuit, she said.

Wilmeth said she could not hear their conversation, but said she saw Dally step out of her van and allowed herself to be handcuffed and led by the arm into the back seat of the teal car.

“The person in the tan pantsuit put handcuffs on the lady who came out of the van,” Wilmeth testified. She identified Dally as the woman in the van after seeing her picture in court.

Wilmeth, who had been shopping at Target with her sister, said she could hear the silver handcuffs clink as they locked on Dally’s wrists, which she said were positioned behind her back.

After both women were in the teal car, Wilmeth said, the driver sped away “real fast” in the wrong direction, running two stop signs before disappearing behind the Target building.

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Wilmeth is the second eyewitness to the abduction to testify in the trial. Earlier this week, Dennis Dunlap described a similar scene he said he observed while eating a fast-food breakfast in his parked truck.

On cross-examination, Wilmeth faced many of the same questions that Haun’s attorneys posed to Dunlap. For instance, attorneys challenged her observations of the defendant’s height in comparison to the victim.

Wilmeth acknowledged she told police the day after the abduction that the woman in the tan pantsuit appeared to be about 5 feet, 3 inches tall. Defense attorneys have said Haun could not have been the person in the tan suit because she is much taller.

They suggested in opening statements that Haun was about 5 feet, 7 inches--the same height as Dally.

But Richard Haas, an investigator for the district attorney, settled that issue Thursday. He measured Haun’s height during a court recess and testified that the 36-year-old defendant stands 5 feet, 5 inches.

In other testimony, Brigati, a hardware store employee, told the jury that he sold Haun $12.20 worth of cleaning supplies at about 11:30 a.m. on May 6, 1996. Witnesses say Dally was abducted at about 9:30 that morning.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Frawley asked Brigati whether B & B Hardware in Camarillo, where he worked, sold products that remove blood stains. Brigati said the store did.

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But neither Brigati nor his supervisor could recall what Haun actually bought that day, explaining that the original store receipt has since been destroyed.

Deputy Public Defender Neil Quinn questioned Brigati’s recollection of the time the cleaning products were purchased. And he pointed to a difference in Brigati’s original statement to police and his testimony in court Thursday.

In the earlier written statement, Brigati said Haun bought “miscellaneous hardware” with a personal check. On the witness stand, Brigati said Haun purchased cleaning supplies.

The jury also learned that Brigati originally was unable to pick Haun out of a police lineup.

Brigati’s manager, Rochelle Baker, also testified Thursday.

Striding into court wearing a red B & B Hardware T-shirt, Baker assured the jury that she was “damn good at recall.”

She testified that a man who described himself as Haun’s friend called her after the purchase and asked about the check. Baker said she told him that she sent it to the district attorney’s office, because the check bounced.

Although Baker said she was not involved in the sale to Haun, she said “hardware” could be loosely defined to include such items as sponges and cleaning supplies.

Lake, the manager of a Budget Rent-A-Car office in Oxnard, told the jury that Haun reserved a four-door Nissan Altima on May 5, 1996. Haun came to pick up the car later that day and signed a rental agreement, copies of which were shown to the jury.

On the agreement, Lake wrote down “Longs” as Haun’s place of business. She said the grocery clerk promptly corrected Lake and said she worked at “Vons.”

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Quinn noted in his opening statement that it would be unusual for a murderer to offer such information, and pointed to the admission as evidence that Haun ran errands for the true killer without knowledge of a murder plan.

Prosecutors have charged Haun with murder, conspiracy and kidnapping. They say she planned and carried out the slaying of Sherri Dally, the wife of Haun’s lover Michael Dally. He faces the same three charges.

Defense attorneys, however, have tried to characterize Haun as a hapless pawn of Michael Dally, who they contend orchestrated his wife’s killing with an unidentified third suspect.

Because there are special circumstances linked to the charges, both Haun and Dally could face the death penalty if convicted.