Haun’s Family, Ex-Fiance Close Testimony in Penalty Phase

Testimony in the penalty phase of convicted killer Diana Haun’s murder trial concluded a full day ahead of schedule Tuesday after the defendant’s relatives and former fiance testified about the events that shaped her life.

Haun broke into tears as her 72-year-old mother--described by her children as a reserved woman who rarely shows emotion--quietly professed her love for her oldest daughter and wept.

“She is very dear to me,” Kiku Haun told the jury as her 36-year-old daughter dropped her head.

The former Oxnard grocery clerk was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy and kidnapping last month for fatally stabbing her lover’s wife, Sherri Dally, in May 1996.

After closing arguments, which are set for Friday, the jury will recommend whether Haun should be executed or sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

During the two-day penalty phase, defense attorneys called Haun’s relatives and close friends to the witness stand, hoping to provide the jury with a more complete picture of her life.

Growing up on 7th Street in Port Hueneme, Haun was shy and had few friends, according to her sister, Mary Oliver. She was overweight and didn’t date or attend school dances.

At 15, Haun was struck a glancing blow to the head by a basketball backboard that collapsed in a high school gym.

Oliver said the injury did not change Haun’s personality, but caused some memory loss. In the years that followed, she said, her sister suffered from low self-esteem and became obsessive about her looks and weight.

Haun only began to socialize with men after high school, Oliver said. And when she did begin dating, she would often adopt the same interests as her boyfriends--including her lover Michael Dally.

“She got into mechanics with one boyfriend and jet skiing with another,” Oliver told the jury, adding that the family never approved of Haun’s relationship with Michael Dally, because he was married.

The family also felt that Haun had become overly involved with Dally. He worked the night shift at Vons and Haun would wake up at 4 a.m. to call him during his breaks, Oliver said.

“She doted over her boyfriends, but not to that extent,” Oliver said.

But on cross-examination, Oliver acknowledged that her sister was an independent woman who had held down several jobs--as a waitress, postal worker and grocery clerk.

Haun also earned two community college degrees despite her head injury, Oliver testified, and started her own vending-machine business.

Much of Oliver’s testimony was focused on the dynamics of Haun’s family life: living with an alcoholic father and the punishment he doled out, and the reserved manner in which their mother expressed emotions. Oliver, 35, told the jury that in her lifetime she had only seen her mother cry once--when her husband, Fred Haun, died.

Although the family did not show emotion outwardly, Oliver said later on cross-examination that she and her sister knew their parents loved them and told the jury that they had never been abused.

Haun’s former fiance, 34-year-old house painter Randall Marks, also testified Tuesday. Marks told the jury that he met the defendant when she was a waitress at an Oxnard restaurant that he was hired to paint.

They dated for several months and he eventually asked Haun to marry him. Marks said he gave Haun a ring and a wedding date was set for July 16, 1994.

But during their engagement, Haun started a new job at Vons in Oxnard. She told her fiance about a male co-worker--Michael Dally--who made a pass at her, Marks testified.

The remark bothered him, Marks said, and was followed by a series of breakfast meetings between Dally and Haun that contributed to his eventually breaking off the engagement, he said.

As he testified, Marks did not look at his former fiance, who sat at the defense table with her head bowed.

In a quiet voice, he identified for the jury a white piece of parchment shown to him by Haun’s public defender as an invitation to the wedding that never occurred.

In other testimony, four Ventura County sheriff’s deputies testified about Haun’s behavior since her incarceration in August 1996.

During that time, they said, she has been a well-behaved and respectful inmate who has only had one violation--hoarding painkillers and razor blades.

Authorities said Haun told them that the 81 Tylenol tablets and a few razors were not intended for a suicide attempt. Haun told them she wanted a tool to cut out pictures to decorate her cell, deputies said.

“When a person is isolated for a long period of time, they tend to make house,” Sgt. Allen Schaeffer testified. “I call it ‘nesting.’ ”

The jury in the case has a two-day break as lawyers discuss what instructions should be read to the panel after closing arguments, which are set to begin Friday at 8:30 a.m.