Haun Jurors Ask to View Car Allegedly Used in Dally Kidnapping

The jury in the Diana Haun murder trial deliberated for a second full day Tuesday without returning a verdict, but asked to see a key piece of evidence: the blood-stained Nissan Altima.

Slain homemaker Sherri Dally was last seen getting into the car with a blond-haired woman May 6, 1996. A large amount of Dally’s blood was later found soaked into the upholstery of the back seat.

So far, a note asking to see the teal-colored Altima is the only request to emerge from jurors in the high-profile murder case.

Local attorneys who have been following the trial said there are any number of reasons why jurors would want to view the car, which was rented by Haun a day before Dally disappeared.

“Something like this is hard to speculate on,” Oxnard lawyer David Shain said. “Perhaps someone wanted to look at the stains. It could be that they are trying to better visualize the whole issue.

“In my experience, some questions by jurors are road maps as to the way they are thinking or leaning,” Shain said. “And there are other questions that are susceptible to many interpretations--and it seems to me this falls into the second category.”

Of the more than 300 exhibits in the murder case, the Altima is the only one not readily available for the jury.

The teal-colored car was driven from a police warehouse Tuesday morning to the Ventura courthouse, where jurors examined it for about 30 minutes, prosecutors said.

The jury had previously seen the car during a tour of various sites connected to the slaying of Dally.

During the trial, witnesses said they saw Dally allow herself to be handcuffed by a blond woman outside a Ventura Target store. The woman put Dally in the car before speeding out of sight, witnesses said.

The car had been rented by Haun. When police recovered it, the car was well-scrubbed. But chemical tests showed large amounts of Dally’s blood had once covered the back seat and floorboard, according to court testimony.

The tests also showed Dally’s blood had pooled on the rear passenger door handle and splattered on the interior lining of the car roof.

Haun is accused of kidnapping Dally, the wife of Haun’s longtime lover, and stabbing her to death before dumping her body in a ravine between Ventura and Ojai.

Prosecutors say the blood splatters in the car suggest that is where the killing occurred.

Although she has acknowledged renting the car, Haun has denied she was the blond driver seen by witnesses that day. She has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy.

Prosecutors say she crafted an elaborate plot with her lover, Michael Dally, to kill his wife and then donned a blond wig and disguise to carry out the crime last May.

Michael Dally will be tried after Haun, and both could face the death penalty if convicted.

The jury in Haun’s trial has now met for about 13 hours since receiving the case late last week. During that time the group has asked no questions of the judge, and it has not requested that transcripts of any testimony from the six-week trial be read to them.

“Any jury that is conscientious is going to take its time and look at all the evidence,” Shain said.