Haun Team Seeks to Offer Background Evidence

During Diana Haun’s lengthy murder trial, the jury heard little evidence on her background--her childhood, life experiences or the events that shaped her growth as an individual.

But when the jury returns next week for the penalty phase, that is exactly what defense attorneys want it to hear as they try to paint a more complete picture of the woman now facing possible execution for killing her lover’s wife.

“The moral worth of the defendant is a consideration for this jury,” Deputy Public Defender Neil Quinn argued Thursday during a court hearing.

Sitting beside her attorneys, Haun for the first time wept quietly during a court proceeding as intimate details about her family were revealed.

Her emotional reaction came as Quinn and co-counsel Susan Olson indicated they plan to call several witnesses to testify on Haun’s transformation from a shy, pudgy schoolgirl into a 36-year-old woman.

The witnesses include Haun’s mother, Kiku, her younger sister, Mary Oliver, and her older brother, Jimmy.

Through their statements, the jury will learn about a devastating injury that Haun suffered two decades ago when a basketball backboard fell on her head, they said.

As a 15-year-old Hueneme High School student, Haun underwent brain surgery and spent three days in a coma.

Defense attorneys had hoped to provide the jury with medical documents detailing the extent of Haun’s injury, but Olson told Judge Frederick A. Jones that medical records have since been destroyed.

Consequently, Olson asked the judge to allow the jury to see photographs of Haun taken two months after the accident. The pictures show Haun with a shaved head marked by visible sutures.

Prosecutors objected to the photographs, arguing they were not relevant to the penalty phase--particularly in absence of medical testimony.

But Olson argued the photos graphically illustrate the extent of an injury that caused Haun memory loss and significantly affected her development as a young woman.

The judge agreed and decided the jury could view the photographs.

Other evidence expected to be presented includes testimony about Haun’s 72-year-old mother, a Japanese bride who married an American military man and moved to Port Hueneme when Haun was a small child.

Kiku Haun was a stoic, subservient wife whose marriage to an alcoholic husband served as a model relationship to her daughters, Olson said.

With her now-deceased father, Fred, absent much of the time, Olson told the judge that Haun’s brother served as a father figure and sometimes imposed harsh punishment on his sister that influenced her as a child.

“This is the story of a family,” Olson argued in support of her planned presentation of evidence.

Defense attorneys told Jones they also want the jury to learn that Kiku Haun underwent surgery for breast cancer last year--a painful experience that affected Haun and her siblings.

Also, Quinn said the stoic manner in which the mother dealt with her mastectomy is illustrative of her character and may shed some light for the jury on her subdued testimony earlier in the trial.

Although prosecutors argued such testimony could be a veiled attempt to drum up sympathy for the defendant’s family and therefore persuade jurors to spare them the pain of giving Haun a death sentence, Jones said he would allow much of the proposed evidence.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Frawley also warned that if the defense begins to elicit testimony on Haun’s character, such as witnesses describing her as shy or submissive, the prosecution will counter in its rebuttal case with evidence to the contrary.

After a six-week trial, Haun was convicted last month of first-degree murder for killing Sherri Dally, the wife of her lover, Michael Dally. He is also charged in the May 1996 slaying and will go to trial Nov. 24.

The jury found Haun guilty of kidnapping and conspiracy, plus a special circumstance that the killing occurred for financial gain. The allegation makes Haun eligible for the death penalty.

Prosecutors have asked to present evidence on the impact Sherri Dally’s killing has had on her family and friends. Jones is expected to rule on those requests today.

Meanwhile, defense attorneys Thursday asked to present evidence on the effect a death verdict would have on Haun’s family.

Jones denied the request, saying the constitutionality of the issue has not been addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court or the state’s high court.