Haun Jury Split on D.A. Possibly Seeking Deal

When jurors decided this week to condemn Diana Haun to life in prison for fatally stabbing her lover’s wife, they felt confident their verdict would be imposed: A convicted killer would never be released from custody.

But that decision could be compromised if Haun agrees to testify against her co-defendant and onetime lover, Michael Dally, in exchange for a lesser sentence.

Jurors were divided Tuesday over whether the district attorney should negotiate such a deal if one is needed to convict Dally.

“Personally speaking, I would not object to that if it would help secure a conviction against Michael Dally,” said jury foreman Noel Langle, 44.

After Monday’s verdict was returned, Langle said, the jury met with Judge Frederick A. Jones and offered its opinion about Dally’s role in his wife’s slaying.

“Several of the jurors volunteered to the judge afterward that we would be willing to serve on Michael Dally’s jury,” said Langle, a Santa Barbara County planner. “I think if Michael Dally had been on trial . . . I think we might have arrived at a death-penalty verdict.”

Langle explained that testimony about Dally’s past history weighed heavily on the jury’s mind, particularly testimony from former girlfriend Sallie Lowe, who told the jury that in 1989 Dally boasted about wanting to kill his wife.

“He had shown that he wanted to do this for a long period of time,” Langle said.

Juror Bert Walker, 74, said he also would not rule out a Haun deal if it helped the prosecution send Dally to prison.

“I am so anxious to see him found guilty that I might be persuaded if that was the only way to get him,” Walker said. “He was a dirty rotten guy.”

But not all jurors feel that way.

“I hope that our verdict would be respected,” said Jim Brock, 37, a systems analyst for the Santa Barbara Municipal Court and a Lompoc resident. “When we came back with life in prison without the possibility of parole, that’s what we meant.”

Haun, 36, was spared execution and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Monday for fatally stabbing her lover’s wife, Sherri Dally.

A sentencing hearing is set for Nov. 24 during which Judge Jones is expected to impose the jury’s verdict.

Before that hearing, prosecutors could file a motion to strike the special circumstance in the case in exchange for Haun’s testimony, which could allow her to be paroled.

In Brock’s view, lawyers on the case had a three-week break between the guilt and penalty phases of the trial in which to negotiate with Haun. To make a deal at this point, he said, would be a slight to the jury’s decision.

“It’s a little bit late now,” he said.

Juror Ann Scott, 32, a Santa Barbara Municipal Court clerk, said she anticipated that the district attorney could strike a bargain with Haun.

“I actually pondered the thought of her, somehow, if not by testifying against him, somehow getting out of the full sentence,” Scott said. “I don’t like it. It’s something I hope doesn’t happen, but it’s also expected. Diana Haun doesn’t seem to have a lot of common sense, so maybe she won’t go for it.”

Walker agrees that once the jury has made a decision, the judge should respect it and impose the sentence.

However, he said, if Haun’s testimony would cinch a conviction against Michael Dally, he said a plea would be worth it.

“I am worried about how they are going to convict Michael,” he said. “He didn’t leave the paper trail certainly that she did. I was a firm believer that he was equally guilty as she is.”

Walker, a tile store owner, was the lone juror to vote in favor of a death sentence, and said “it will serve a lot of people on our jury right” if Haun were to receive a lesser sentence in exchange for her testimony.

Walker argued during deliberations that by giving her life in prison, Haun could possibly get out in less time by cutting a deal. He felt the jury should have imposed the harshest sentence possible.

But other members of the jury argued that a life sentence would ensure that Haun would never be released from prison, he said. Given the fact that a deal could be worked out, Walker said, that appears to not be the case.

Dally is accused of conspiring with Haun, his girlfriend of two years, to kill his 35-year-old wife. His trial on charges of murder, conspiracy and kidnapping is scheduled to begin Nov. 24--the same day Haun’s sentence would be imposed.

During Haun’s trial, which spanned six weeks, the jury heard testimony from friends of the Dallys who said he used drugs and psychologically abused his wife by calling her cruel names and forcing her to sleep with a pillow adorned with his mistress’ picture.

At the end of Haun’s trial, jurors said they would have convicted Dally as well as Haun if they could have.