Haun Talked of Witchcraft, Black Magic, Witness Says

Diana Haun described herself as a witch who cast spells and was “thinking about” performing a human sacrifice, a supermarket co-worker testified Monday at Haun’s murder trial.

The deli worker’s bizarre recollections were followed by emotional testimony from the victim’s mother, capping one of the most riveting days of testimony yet in the sensational Ventura County murder trial.

Teresa Estrella told jurors that she and Haun, who worked behind the deli counter of an Oxnard Vons store, discussed the defendant’s interest in witchcraft and black magic just two months before the slaying of Ventura homemaker Sherri Dally.

During that discussion, the 22-year-old grocery clerk said she asked Haun if she had ever performed a human sacrifice.

“She told me no, but she was thinking about doing one,” Estrella said. “She told me she had someone in mind. She told me she had a male friend’s birthday coming up and he had someone in mind.”

Haun, 36, and Michael Dally, 37, are accused of kidnapping and killing his wife in a murder scheme intended to avoid a financially ruinous divorce.

Prosecutors have suggested that Haun carried out the vicious slaying as a gift to Michael Dally, whose birthday fell two weeks after Sherri’s May 6, 1996, disappearance.

But Estrella’s testimony was largely called into question by Deputy Public Defender Susan Olson, who grilled the witness for nearly three hours about her conflicting testimony to police and later to members of the Ventura County Grand Jury.

And at one point, Estrella admitted that Haun may have been joking when telling tales about casting spells and dabbling in black magic.

“She told me she practiced white magic and that she was thinking about practicing black magic,” Estrella testified.

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The 22-year-old grocery clerk said that Haun once asked her for a rusty nail and an old razor to use in a spell. The defendant, Estrella said, had told about other spells as well.

“She had told me she cast a spell on some girl. I think it was a price check lady,” Estrella testified. “She made it sound like it was successful, because the lady went on a leave of absence.”

Estrella told the jury that her discussion with Haun occurred between March 11 and March 20, 1996. She said she specifically remembered the dates, because she had a friend visiting from out of town at the time.

“I told him I worked with a witch and he said, ‘We all do,’ ” Estrella said. “No, I said, this chick told me she is a witch.”

But on cross-examination, Estrella acknowledged that her memory was weak. And several times, her testimony in court was shown to be contradictory to her prior interviews with police.

At one point, Estrella admitted that she had asked Haun to cast a spell to protect her from a co-worker. But Estrella insisted that the remark was simply a joke.

“Isn’t it true that Ms. Haun was joking when she made those statements to you?” Olson responded, referring to Estrella’s discussion of witchcraft with Haun.

“Yes,” Estrella said, “She could have been.”

Olson hammered away at Estrella about her prior statements to police, playing four tape recordings of police interviews to demonstrate how some of her earlier statements contradicted her testimony in court.

She questioned Estrella, for instance, about who initiated the witchcraft discussions, suggesting that Estrella was curious and eager to talk about such things.

As the day wore on, Estrella became more and more agitated by the questions. She rocked in a swivel chair on the witness stand and snapped back with curt responses. She repeatedly said she could not remember pieces of information.

At one point, Olson asked the witness about her brother’s dabbling in black magic. She questioned Estrella about whether she had ever talked to her brother about a sacrifice involving a cat.

That was a decade ago, Estrella said, testifying that she never discussed an animal sacrifice with her brother.

But Olson played for jurors a tape recording of a police interview in which Estrella specifically discusses such a sacrifice, and tells authorities: “He said he didn’t like that and that he would never do it again.”

“So the testimony up until now that you never talked about it is incorrect?” Olson followed up.

“I guess,” Estrella said.

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Throughout the inquiry, Estrella turned away from Olson. She did not make eye contact with the attorney, choosing instead to stare at the ceiling, the floor--anywhere but in the direction of Haun.

“I feel like she--her eyes are staring at me right now,” she explained to the prosecutor before being excused from the courtroom.

She also told the jury that she was frightened of the defendant both at the time of the discussion of witchcraft and in court Monday.

Asked at one point why she was willing to give Haun a rusty nail for a spell, Estrella said: “She scared the hell out of me and I didn’t want to be on her bad side.”

Beyond their discussion of witchcraft, Estrella said that she and Haun talked about the defendant’s relationship with Michael Dally.

“She loved him a lot and wanted to be with him,” Estrella said.

They also talked about Michael Dally’s marriage to Sherri.

“She always referred to her as the ‘ex-wife’ because he wanted to leave her,” Estrella said.

On the afternoon of May 6, 1996, Haun arrived at work about 15 minutes late, Estrella said. “She was never late.”

Haun explained that she had been in a bike accident on Los Posas Road in Camarillo, but Estrella said that she could see no cuts or scrapes on her legs or hands. Estrella said she did notice, however, scratches on the defendant’s face and redness on her arm.

A few weeks later, Haun was transferred from the Oxnard Vons store to a supermarket in Port Hueneme. Estrella said some of her fellow Vons employees threw Haun a goodbye party and bought her a cake.

Previously, the defendant had told Estrella that she did not like working with a manager named Darrell Anderson--a manager whom Haun would encounter at the new store, Estrella said.

“I asked her how does she feel about working with Darrell again,” the clerk testified. “She made a smirk and said: ‘Maybe he’ll be the next Vons employee missing.’ ”

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In other testimony Monday, Sherri Dally’s mother, Karlyne Guess, told jurors about her daughter’s attempts to hold together a failing marriage.

Her daughter met Michael Dally when they were sophomores at Ventura High School, she said. Sherri had never dated anyone but Michael and married him March 6, 1982.

They had two children, Devon, 9, and Max, 7, Guess said. But as the years went by, she said her son-in-law became more distant from his family.

He would spend nights away from home. He had a variety of excuses, Guess said. She and her daughter speculated that he might be having affairs, she said.

Additionally, Guess said, Michael Dally would act in a cruel way toward Sherri, being verbally abusive and criticizing her appearance.

She said her daughter experienced complications in her second pregnancy that caused her to put on quite a bit of weight. Michael Dally called her a “barn animal,” Guess said.

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For a long time, Guess said, her daughter would confide in her about such incidents and talk about leaving the marriage.

“She would tell me she knew what she needed to do,” Guess said. “I explained to her that she could make it on her own.”

But then Michael Dally would tell Sherri that she would lose the children, the house, her in-home day-care business and would have nothing, Guess said.

Before her death, Sherri Dally became depressed and angry, Guess said. She lost more than 30 pounds and was trying to change her appearance to look sexy and more appealing to Michael, she said.

The mother and daughter spoke for the last time about a week before Sherri Dally disappeared from the parking lot of a Ventura Target store.

“She kept telling me, ‘I know what I have to do, Mom. I just can’t do it,’ ” Guess said.

Then, on the evening of May 6, 1996, Guess received a phone call from Michael Dally, she said.

“He said, ‘Karlyne, Sherri’s been snatched,’ ” she testified. “He said she’s gone, she’s been kidnapped--words to that effect.”

The tone of his voice suggested that if Sherri hadn’t been shopping for a Mother’s Day gift for her, that she might still be alive, Guess said. “It was done in a very hurtful tone of voice.”

Guess, who maintained her composure throughout her testimony, began to weep when Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth asked her to identify Sherri Dally’s wedding ring and a watch.

The jewelry was recovered from Dally’s remains, which were found by a search party in the bottom of a brush-filled canyon between Ventura and Ojai on June 1, 1996.