Woman Convicted of Killing Lover’s Wife

In a dramatic ending to one of the most sensational trials in Ventura County history, 36-year-old grocery clerk Diana Haun was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder for fatally stabbing her lover’s wife.

Haun looked stunned as the verdict was read to a hushed courtroom. Guilty verdicts also were handed down on charges of kidnapping and conspiracy.

The jury found that Haun killed homemaker Sherri Dally for financial gain, a special circumstance propelling the case into a penalty phase in which the same 12 jurors will decide whether the defendant should be executed.

If Haun receives the death penalty, she will be the first woman in 50 years sent to death row from Ventura County.

The verdicts in the high-profile case came after 4 1/2 days of deliberations and capped a six-week trial tinged with allegations of witchcraft, human sacrifice and a love triangle turned deadly.

Haun and her lover, Michael Dally, are both accused of crafting an elaborate plan to kill his wife of 14 years, a scheme that prosecutors say was intended to avoid a costly divorce and remove an inconvenient spouse.

The prosecution accused Haun of stabbing Sherri Dally at least eight times with a knife, beating her in the face with an ax and then possibly beheading the mother of two boys, ages 7 and 9, as a birthday gift to her lover.

Michael Dally will be tried in his wife’s death after the penalty phase of Haun’s trial before Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones.

Outside the courtroom Friday, spectators watching a televised feed of the proceedings erupted in cheers as the verdict was read. But not a word was spoken inside the courtroom, where relatives of the defendant stared in disbelief and the mother and brother of the slain woman clutched hands and cried tears of joy.

“As a family, we first want to thank the jury for all their hard work and the district attorney’s office and the Police Department,” the victim’s mother, Karlyne Guess, said afterward. “They not only worked with their brains but with their hearts.”

“She was a feisty little kid,” Scott Guess, Sherri Dally’s brother, told reporters. “I don’t know what she would say at this point. Maybe ‘Thank you.’ ”

Half a dozen detectives who investigated the murder hugged and wept outside the courtroom after the verdict was announced.

Bound by a sweeping gag order, they said they could not comment on the jury’s decision. Prosecutors and defense attorneys also mostly declined to make statements.

“My only comment is that we are pleased with the verdict,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth said.

The lawyers are scheduled to return to Ventura County Superior Court next week to discuss the penalty phase, which will begin Oct. 20 and is expected to last two weeks.

If the jury finds that Haun should be put to death and the judge does not object, she will become one of only nine women on death row in California.

The jury rejected the special circumstance allegation that Haun killed the victim while lying in wait, despite an impassioned plea by Henke-Dobroth in closing arguments.

Although the panel did find that Haun stabbed the victim with a knife, the jurors did not believe she used an ax in the killing, according to their verdicts.

Sherri Dally disappeared from a Target parking lot the morning of May 6 after witnesses saw her handcuffed and placed into the back seat of a teal-colored car by a blond woman. Her skeletal remains were found 26 days later at the bottom of a steep ravine between Ventura and Ojai.

Almost immediately after the 35-year-old homemaker was reported missing, Ventura police focused their investigation on her husband and Haun. The pair had been having an affair for two years. According to friends who testified, Sherri Dally knew about the relationship and was trying desperately to win her husband back.

Police arrested Haun on Aug. 1, and she was indicted by the Ventura County Grand Jury two weeks later. The charges were amended after the grand jury indicted Michael Dally as well.

During the trial, prosecutors called more than 100 witnesses to testify about the motives for and the planning and execution of the kidnapping and slaying.

The evidence showed that three days before the victim vanished, Haun bought various items, including a hatchet and handcuffs, believed to have been used in the killing. She also rented a teal Nissan Altima on May 5, court records show.

Authorities recovered the car and found the back seat soaked with the victim’s blood, according to DNA tests.