Judge Denies Bid to Dismiss Dally Charges

Michael Dally’s lawyers urged a judge Monday to dismiss all charges in his sensational murder trial on the grounds prosecutors failed to prove he was involved in a conspiracy to kill his wife.

The request was made moments after prosecutors questioned their last witness and rested their case. And it was swiftly denied by Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr., who offered no reasons for his decision.

The defense will open its case today.

Dally, 37, is facing murder, conspiracy and kidnapping charges for allegedly planning to kill his wife, Sherri, with his lover, Diana Haun. She was convicted of the same charges last fall and sentenced to life in prison.

Prosecutors contend that Dally persuaded Haun to fatally stab his wife, helped craft an elaborate kidnapping scheme involving a rental car and a disguise, and then concealed those crimes by backing Haun’s alibi to police.

But attorney James Farley said the evidence presented by the prosecution fails to support those claims. He filed a motion seeking his client’s acquittal, a standard move by defense attorneys at the conclusion of the prosecution case.

“There is a lot of what you would call speculation, conjecture or guesswork,” Farley said. “We have nothing by way of evidence.”

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Frawley argued that significant evidence has been presented in the last five weeks to link Dally to his wife’s murder, and he listed nearly two dozen examples.

On the morning of the murder, for instance, Dally left his home at 1:45 a.m. but did not show up at work until 3 a.m., leaving a window in which to meet Haun, Frawley said. Dally worked the graveyard shift at Vons.

And Haun’s mother told the Ventura County Grand Jury that on the same morning she woke up and saw Dally and her daughter talking in the living room of their Port Hueneme home.

Dally and Haun talked several more times that day, including a phone conversation just hours before Sherri Dally was abducted from the parking lot of a Target store by a woman wearing a blond wig and tan pantsuit, Frawley said.

Witnesses say Sherri Dally allowed herself to be handcuffed before climbing into the back seat of a teal-colored Nissan Altima. Authorities suspect Haun used a security badge in a ruse to get Sherri Dally into the vehicle.

Michael Dally was the only person, Frawley told the judge, who knew his wife would willingly get into a car with a law-enforcement official because of her concern about his illegal drug use.

Dally later called his son’s elementary school to ask whether the boy had been picked up by his mother. When an office manager mistakenly reported that the boy had been picked up, Dally responded: “Oh really?”

Frawley told Campbell that the call alone shows Dally was aware of Haun’s actions that morning, privy to the murder plan, and jittery because of it.

“This is a guy in a conspiracy to murder who is getting anxious and jumping the gun,” Frawley said.

Frawley also cited the testimony of former girlfriend Sallie Lowe, who told jurors Dally talked often about how much he hated his wife. Lowe said he once told her he wanted his wife killed--stabbed to death and the knife twisted to cause pain.

According to the coroner, Sherri Dally was stabbed in the chest at least nine times. One stab wound appeared to have been caused by the twist of a knife, he said.

Frawley went on to say that after the murder, Dally tried to cover up for Haun by backing her alibi to police, suggesting her signature on a car rental agreement was a fake. He also dissuaded searchers from looking for his wife’s body, the prosecutor argued.

In his final remarks, Frawley told Campbell that Dally admitted to a family friend that he knew Haun had killed his wife, but continued to send letters to her in jail, declaring his love and urging her to stay strong.

Those letters--59 of which were admitted as evidence Monday--are “damning beyond belief,” the prosecutor said.

“I think on just the evidence I mentioned,” Frawley concluded, “there is substantial evidence of this conspiracy.”

In response, Farley again questioned whether the prosecution’s evidence directly ties his client to a conspiracy to commit murder or is mere speculation on the part of prosecutors who believe Dally did not behave “appropriately” after his wife disappeared.

After the lawyers concluded their arguments, Campbell said only this: “Without going into detail, the motions are denied.”

Testimony is scheduled to resume this morning.