New Dally Judge Undaunted by the Challenge

It has been seven years since Superior Court Judge Robert C. Bradley presided over a criminal trial.

It might have been a robbery. Or maybe a murder. Hard to remember.

But now he is about to take over the biggest murder case to hit Ventura County in decades, after the judge assigned was forced to step down because of health problems.

Bradley, 56, is not daunted by the challenge.

“It is a very high-visibility case,” Bradley said of the upcoming trial of Michael Dally, a grocery store night manager accused of killing his wife. “I’m just going to have to work very hard to get up to speed.”

In this case, work will include poring over the testimony of several witnesses from the trial of Dally’s co-defendant and longtime lover, Diana Haun.

Rather than read the entire 11,700 pages of transcripts from Haun’s trial, however, Bradley plans to meet almost daily with outgoing Judge Frederick A. Jones to familiarize himself with the case.

And in two weeks, Bradley hopes to begin hearing pretrial motions before jury selection gets underway Dec. 15.

“Judge Jones is an excellent trial judge--certainly I feel there are some large shoes to fill,” Bradley said last week. “Knowing that is an inspiration for me to come in and do the best job I can.”

For the past two years Bradley has served as presiding judge of the Ventura County Superior Court, overseeing personnel matters and deciding which judges should handle what cases.

Bradley steered clear of that decision, however, when Jones recently announced he could not preside over the Dally trial because of a pending bone-marrow transplant. Jones was diagnosed with leukemia three years ago.

Knowing he might be a candidate to take over the case, Bradley asked Assistant Presiding Judge Charles W. Campbell to decide who should take the case. And Campbell picked him.

The decision was influenced, in part, by the fact that three Superior Court judges experienced in handling serious criminal cases were already assigned to capital murder trials. And Municipal Court judges do not hear death-penalty cases due to an agreement among the bench, public defender and district attorney.

“We realized we would be looking at a very short list,” Bradley said. “There was a real strong possibility I might need to take the case because of the experience I have.”

During his 13-year tenure, Bradley handled three death-penalty trials. In the past seven years, he has handled juvenile cases, civil settlements and family law matters.

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But Dally’s trial will present some different challenges.

The case has been intensely followed by the media, forcing a decision to import a jury from neighboring Santa Barbara County. And complex evidentiary issues loom because of Haun’s earlier trial.

Fellow judges and attorneys who have litigated cases before Bradley say he is up to the challenge. They describe him as an even-tempered, easygoing judge who will keep a steady hand on the Dally trial.

“He is a fine judge,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Glynn, who prosecuted two death-penalty cases in front of Bradley a decade ago.

One of those, the 1988 trial of Curtis Fauber, resulted in a death verdict for the murder of an Oxnard businessman that revolved around drugs and money.

The other case resulted in a conviction. The defendant was spared execution in 1986 when the jury deadlocked in the penalty phase.

In both cases, Glynn said he found Bradley easy to get along with and a judge whose rulings were always well-reasoned and fair.

“I found him really to be a wonderful judge in front of which to try a case,” Glynn said. “He has a really even disposition. It will be quite a contrast from Fred Jones.”

Jones is considered a tough judge who controls his courtroom with an iron fist. But Bradley is described as more mellow, which attorneys say will make for a more relaxed ambience in the courtroom for the Dally trial.

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“He has a different approach to judgeship from Judge Jones,” said defense attorney James M. Farley, who defended Fauber in 1988 and is representing Dally.

“[Jones] is more into running a tight ship and not letting anyone have any leeway,” Farley said. But with Bradley, Farley said, “He doesn’t hammer you too hard and he lets you do your case.”

A former prosecutor and private attorney, Bradley was appointed to the Superior Court in 1984 by Gov. George Deukmejian after serving a year on the Municipal Court. He was elected to the same seat in 1986 and 1992.

He is a graduate of UC Berkeley, earned a law degree at Hastings College of Law in San Francisco and served in the Army from 1967 to 1969.

It was after returning from Vietnam in October 1969 that Bradley found his way to Ventura County and a position in the district attorney’s office. Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren started in the misdemeanor unit at the same time.

“I met Bob Bradley two weeks after I got back from Vietnam,” Perren recalls. “We car-pooled to Oxnard together for the first year.”

Bradley and Perren left the D.A.’s office the same day in 1972 to enter private practice. They were appointed to the bench at the same time as well.

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Over the years, Perren said, he has come to know Bradley as a thoughtful man and an even-handed judge.

“He rules directly and there is a very even tenor in his courtroom,” Perren said. “Very few highs, very few lows--everything is very straight.”

Bradley’s courtroom demeanor stands in sharp contrast to the peaks and valleys of the sensational murder case to which he has been assigned.

Dally, 37, is charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy for allegedly plotting the murder of his wife, Sherri, with his longtime lover, Haun.

In September, a jury found the 36-year-old Haun guilty of those charges and an added allegation that the murder was committed for financial gain.

The finding, paired with a conviction of first-degree murder, propelled the case into a penalty trial in which the jury decided to send Haun to prison for the rest of her life without the possibility of parole.

Jurors later explained they believed Haun had been duped into a murder scheme by Dally and should be spared execution. Jones imposed the sentence last week before announcing that Bradley would take over.

Now, Dally’s defense attorneys are trying to keep out damaging evidence presented about their client during Haun’s trial, such as testimony from co-workers and friends about the way he treated his wife, his alleged drug use and reported encounters with prostitutes.

It is those issues that Bradley will soon inherit.

“It is a fascinating case,” said George Eskin, a retired defense attorney and former prosecutor. “I think the challenge to Judge Bradley is to keep things as clear as possible with the evidence in this case to be sure the jury is not influenced by what happened in the other case.”

Bradley said he will continue to serve as presiding judge, a position that rotates among jurists, until his term expires at the end of December.

In the meantime, he has leaned on Campbell for assistance. Campbell will take over as presiding judge next year.

Bradley said the timing has been fortunate because presiding judge duties usually wane this time of year.

“Generally, starting about Thanksgiving, not a whole lot of key administrative decisions need to be made,” Bradley said. “I could feel the responsibilities winding down.”

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Outside court, Bradley is an avid golfer who also enjoys gardening. He is married to Dorothea G. Bradley, a court reporter, and they have three daughters, ages 11, 9 and 6. They live in Ojai.

As Dally’s trial gets underway in the coming weeks with hearings on pretrial motions, the proceedings will temporarily move to Bradley’s spacious second-floor courtroom.

When testimony begins next year, Bradley plans to move into Department 45--the same courtroom where Jones presided over the Haun trial.

Lawyers and judges say the fact that Bradley has not presided over a criminal trial in seven years is of little import to the pending case.

“I don’t think it will be anything for him,” Judge Perren said. “He is an experienced trial lawyer. He has done death-penalty cases before.”

Farley agrees.

“He has tried many criminal cases,” the lawyer said. “Just because he’s been in ‘civil land’ for a while doesn’t mean he has forgotten everything he knows.”