Dally Spent Freely on Sex and Drugs, Jurors Told

As prosecutors began winding down their case, a former prostitute testified Monday that Michael Dally freely spent money on drugs and sex while complaining about pinched finances at home.

“He told me about one time his wife wouldn’t buy any shoes for his kids,” Tracy Bixler said, recalling a conversation she had with Dally after he paid her $40 for sex and shared $40 worth of rock cocaine. “I told him if he was that worried, he could have spent that money on shoes.”

Dally, 37, is accused of masterminding the May 6, 1996, kidnap-murder of his wife, Sherri, a crime prosecutors contend he conceived with lover Diana Haun to avoid a costly divorce. Haun, 36, was convicted of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy last fall and sentenced to life in prison.

Launching the fifth week of Dally’s murder trial, prosecutors on Monday called a series of witnesses who observed his actions and demeanor after his wife’s disappearance from a Target store parking lot in Ventura.

Bixler, who testified at Haun’s trial last year, was the last of those witnesses. Wearing jail blues, she walked from a holding cell into Ventura County Superior Court late in the afternoon and took a seat on the witness stand. She was introduced to the jury simply as Tracy B.

Bixler is currently jailed on a probation violation for driving under the influence.

She told the jury that she met Dally 2 1/2 years ago. He introduced himself as “Mark.” They had sex four times, twice before Sherri Dally disappeared and twice after, she said. Each time, Dally paid her about $40.

Bixler also testified that at least six times she bought $20 to $40 worth of rock cocaine for Dally. Sometimes, she said, he would smoke it with her.

“He’d get kind of paranoid,” Bixler said, describing Dally’s reaction to the drug. “One time, he went in the bathroom and didn’t come out for a while.”

After she learned that his spouse had vanished, Bixler said she saw Dally hanging around drug dealers and prostitutes more. Once, she said, she told Dally that she was sorry about his wife. He showed no emotion, she testified: “He didn’t even really look at me.”

On cross-examination, attorney Robert Schwartz raised doubts about her state of mind during that period. Bixler acknowledged that she was drinking heavily and using drugs during the time she had sex with Dally.

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When further pressed by Schwartz, Bixler told the jury she was drinking up to four bottles of cheap wine a day. She said she was never sober when working as a prostitute.

“You couldn’t be sober and work the type of job you did, could you?” Schwartz asked.

“No sir,” she replied softly.

In other testimony Monday, prosecutors questioned several police officers who monitored Dally and Haun’s phone calls and tracked their movements in the weeks after Sherri Dally’s disappearance. The prosecution contends that Dally and Haun tried to elude police during that time.

Ventura Police Officer Alex Marquez followed Dally for three days after his wife was reported missing. At times, Dally would speed up in his van or quickly change lanes in traffic--actions Marquez interpreted as attempts to dodge police.

“I saw that as surveillance continued, Michael Dally would travel at a higher rate of speed . . . looking cautiously into mirrors to see if he was being followed,” Marquez said.

Around the same time, according to earlier witnesses, Dally and Haun began to communicate via coded pager messages because police were listening to their phone calls.

Investigators later found a “decoder” in Dally’s house, a card explaining the system of numbers and symbols the pair used to communicate. Using the decoder, investigators translated more than 200 pager messages.

Ventura Police Officer Jeff Theis told the jury about 62 outgoing calls he monitored at Haun’s home on May 31, 1996--the day before Sherri Dally’s stabbed and beaten body was found by a volunteer search party.

Each call was made to Michael Dally’s pager, Theis testified. Some were sent in rapid succession and when put together they spelled out short messages or phrases.

In a quick series of pages, Haun sent the following message: “Mike love but if . . . I U . . . I talk 2 U . . . Now if caught might . . . jail.”

Haun’s last message to Dally that day was sent at 6:53 p.m., Theis said. It read: “Di Di love Mike forever.”

The next day, Theis monitored about 10 more calls Haun made from her home phone to Dally’s pager. On cross-examination, the officer acknowledged that during his shift Dally did not return any of the calls.

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In other testimony Monday, a bank employee testified that at the end of 1995, the Dallys had only $46.81 in their savings account. That amount shrank to just $3.31 by the end of 1996.

Prosecutors have tried to prove that Michael and Sherri Dally were struggling financially--a precarious situation that they say may have prompted Dally to kill his wife to receive her life insurance, while avoiding a costly divorce.

Testimony is scheduled to resume today, and the prosecution is expected to rest its case this week.