Judge Asked to Dismiss Charge Haun Killed for Money

Just days before Diana Haun’s scheduled sentencing, her defense attorneys want a judge to throw out the allegation that she killed her lover’s wife for money or grant a new trial, according to court documents.

In September, a jury found Haun guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy and kidnapping for fatally stabbing her lover’s wife. The jury also found that Haun killed Sherri Dally in part for financial gain.

But in a motion filed this week, Deputy Public Defender Neil B. Quinn said jurors were misdirected on what constitutes a murder for financial gain. He also said that evidence presented at the trial failed to support the finding.

The motion was one of four to land on the desk of Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones on Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors filed two briefs addressing evidence in the case of Haun’s co-defendant, Michael Dally, who is set to stand trial on murder charges next week. The documents were filed under seal and were not available to the public.

They also filed a motion asking Jones to bar Dally’s attorneys from making comparisons between their client, his lover and other convicted killers.

In Haun’s trial, defense attorneys persuaded jurors she should not receive the death penalty for murdering Sherri Dally because her crime was not on par with notorious killers like Ted Bundy or Richard Ramirez.

She was not, Quinn argued at the time, “the worst of the worst.”

Prosecutors now say that line of argument was inappropriate. They want Jones to prohibit Dally’s attorneys from comparing him to Bundy, Haun or anyone else.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael K. Frawley also said he does not want the jury in Dally’s trial to know that Haun had a penalty phase or be told the outcome of that proceeding.

Frawley cited a 1995 Supreme Court ruling that said the “proper focus of a penalty trial is the character or record of the individual offender and the circumstances of his particular offense.”

In the same ruling, Frawley said, the court discussed the argument of “comparative culpability” and found it was inappropriate, he said.

The matter is expected to be discussed Monday, when hearings in Dally’s trial are scheduled to begin. Jones is expected to take up the motion filed by Haun’s attorneys first, however.

Prosecutors successfully argued at her trial that Haun committed murder so that she and Michael Dally could be rid of his wife and at the same time cash in on her life insurance and savings.

Quinn said in his motion that evidence to back that position was weak.

“While some substantial evidence existed to show that Mike Dally was financially motivated and that the defendant knew of such motivation, there was no direct evidence of financial motive,” Quinn wrote.

“It is unlikely that the defendant was in fact personally induced to commit murder by anticipation of financial gain for herself or for another,” Quinn states in his motion.

Quinn wants Jones to dismiss the allegation at Monday’s hearing or grant a new trial to litigate the point. Haun faces a life prison term if Jones imposes the jury’s findings.