Haun Trial Penalty Phase Begins

Executing a carefully crafted plan, Diana Haun murdered her lover’s wife--ripping the 35-year-old homemaker from her two young children in a brutal killing that prosecutors said Monday should be punished by death.

“This is truly a murderess of uncommon greed, audacity and boldness,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Frawley told jurors as the penalty phase of Haun’s trial got underway. “And a reasonable assessment of her activity leads you to the conclusion that a reasonable punishment is a death sentence.”

But in her opening statement, Deputy Public Defender Susan Olson told the jury that her client is already facing a life prison sentence as a result of her murder conviction and should be spared execution.

“The punishment already in place for her--life in prison without the possibility of parole--is sufficient,” Olson said.

The statements from the two lawyers served as a prelude to the first full day of testimony in the penalty phase, which is expected to last about a week.

It was a day marked by mournful testimony from victim Sherri Dally’s family, as well as upbeat recollections from the defendant’s older brother and best friend about the life Haun led before she was found guilty of murder.

Throughout the proceedings, Haun wept silently and clutched a balled-up wad of tissue, showing the jury a starkly different face from the often smiling one they observed during her six-week trial.

She wore the same conservative gray suit, but sat slightly hunched over the defense table with her dark hair draped around her face. She rarely looked up and by afternoon, her tears had generated a small pile of crumpled Kleenex.

The first witness to testify in Monday’s proceedings was Dally’s mother, Karlyne Guess. She described her daughter as a caring person enthusiastic about life and whose lifelong goal was to be a mother.

“What I remember most about Sherri is her love of children and her love of her family,” Guess said, clutching a wallet-size photo of her daughter as she sat on the witness stand.

When asked by Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth what impact her daughter’s death has had on her, Guess began to cry.

“It’s taken my life away,” she said. “She was my only daughter.”

Dally was kidnapped May 6, 1996, from the parking lot of a Ventura Target store where she had just purchased a Mother’s Day gift, a nightgown.

Dally’s skeletal remains were found in the bottom of a ravine 22 days later. She had been stabbed, beaten and her head was cut off.

Since her daughter’s death, Guess told the jury that she cannot celebrate Mother’s Day. And her son, once an avid mountain bike rider, stopped cycling because he can’t look down ravines.

She and her husband, Ken, are seeing a counselor and attend group therapy sessions to help cope with their daughter’s death.

“Our life revolves around trying to get over this,” Guess said. “But I understand you don’t always get over it.”

On cross-examination, Deputy Public Defender Neil Quinn questioned whether Ken Guess feels more anger toward Haun or Michael Dally--Sherri’s husband of 14 years who is also charged with murder in connection with the slaying.

Michael Dally had been having a two-year extramarital affair with Haun at the time of Sherri’s disappearance.

“His anger is based more on the fact that his daughter is dead,” Guess answered. But she also said that it was her belief that Michael Dally was responsible, and told Quinn that she once said that to her son-in-law directly.

“I told him in June of 1996,” Guess said, “that he was 100% responsible because he flaunted this woman in front of my daughter. He is responsible.”

Although the jury heard ample evidence about Michael Dally’s alleged role in his wife’s killing during Haun’s trial because they were both charged with conspiracy, the panel was not told until Monday that Dally is awaiting trial.

Jury selection in his case is set to begin Nov. 24.

Michael Dally’s niece, Hannah Murray, also testified as a witness for the prosecution during Monday’s proceedings. Murray, 20, lived with the Dallys and cared for their two children, Max and Devon, after Sherri was reported missing.

The boys, now ages 7 and 9, have been confused and lost without their mother, Murray told the jury. Although they are doing well in school, she said they often do not sleep well and sometimes wake up crying.