Judge Admits Testimony by Former Dally Lover

Damaging statements allegedly made by accused killer Michael Dally to a former lover can be admitted as evidence at his upcoming trial, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Ex-girlfriend Sallie Lowe told authorities that during their three-year affair, Dally told her he hated his wife, Sherri, felt trapped in their marriage and wished she were dead.

Lowe also said that Dally talked about stabbing Sherri and twisting the blade to cause pain, and once remarked that a person could not be prosecuted for murder if the body was never found.

In a partial decision, Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones ruled that those statements are relevant to the pending murder case because “they are, in large part, simply pre-offense statements that constitute admissions that bear on intent, motive and design.”

But Jones has yet to rule on the admissibility of a dozen other statements Dally allegedly made to Lowe, including a remark about his allegedly being involved in a 1991 slaying as a favor to someone.

Jones is expected to rule on those matters today.

Dally’s lawyers wanted Jones to exclude Lowe’s statements on the grounds that they had nothing to do with his case and would only inflame the jury.

Prosecutors argued, however, that the statements demonstrate a motive for wanting his wife dead and identify Dally as a co-conspirator to murder.

Dally is charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy for allegedly planning the May 6, 1996, slaying of his wife. Sherri Dally was fatally stabbed and her severely beaten body dumped in a steep ravine north of Ventura.

Defense attorneys filed a motion to exclude Lowe’s testimony months ago, after she testified at the trial of Dally’s co-defendant, Diana Haun. Haun was convicted of first-degree murder in the case.

Lowe, a Santa Barbara resident, was the first witness called to testify at Haun’s trial in August. She told the jury that she had had an extramarital affair with Michael Dally from 1989 to 1992.

During that period, Lowe testified, Michael Dally boasted to her about being involved with drugs, prostitutes and a motorcycle gang. Lowe also said that Dally complained about his marriage and said he wished his wife would “disappear.”

Although Dally’s lawyer, Robert Schwartz, was present in court during Lowe’s testimony in the Haun trial, he was unable to object to various hearsay statements or cross-examine the former grocery clerk.

“According to Lowe,” he later wrote in a court motion addressing her testimony, “Dally was a braggart, a pimp, a drug dealer and a philandering pleasure-seeker who liked rough sex.

“While much of this evidence is titillating,” Schwartz wrote, “its relationship between such evidence and inferences [prosecutors] apparently want drawn . . . is extremely weak.”

On Tuesday, Schwartz and his associate, Sharon Jones, urged the judge to exclude many of those statements made during Haun’s trial, grand jury proceedings and interviews with investigators and police.

“There was a wide range of subjects covered in Sallie Lowe’s testimony and there was no objection to any of that coming in,” Sharon Jones argued. “Mr. Dally was not represented at that trial.”

The defense attorney argued that the statements allegedly made by Dally were “vague” and “stale,” because they were made four to seven years before Sherri Dally was killed. She further argued that many of the remarks constitute inadmissible hearsay and character evidence.

In the defense’s motion to exclude the testimony, attorneys cite 20 statements or proposed items of evidence that they contend would be prejudicial to the jury and are irrelevant to the crime with which Dally has been charged.

Those statements include:

* A comment that Dally allegedly made to Lowe about having been involved in a 1991 homicide so that someone “would owe him one.”

* Statements Dally allegedly made to his girlfriend about killing her parents, arranging to have her roommate raped and asking whether Lowe could ever kill someone--a remark she later testified appeared to be a solicitation of sorts for her to commit murder.

* A remark Dally allegedly made to Lowe about being involved with the Hells Angels.

In court documents and arguments during Tuesday’s hearing, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth urged the judge to allow the jury in Dally’s trial to hear these statements when Lowe takes the witness stand.

The prosecutor acknowledged that the proposed evidence is prejudicial to Dally, but argued that it should be admitted because it demonstrates his guilt.

“The evidence of his planning and motive was so clear, based upon his statements to Ms. Lowe,” Henke-Dobroth said. “[It is] extremely relevant and critical to the prosecution’s case.”

At one point, Judge Jones questioned Lowe’s specific statements to authorities about subjects she allegedly discussed with Dally. Henke-Dobroth said she would find the precise wording and show the judge the transcripts this morning.