Father Offers Alibi for Accused Killer

The father of accused killer Michael Dally took the witness stand in his son’s defense Wednesday, offering an alibi for Dally’s whereabouts on the night his wife was killed.

Gripping the edge of the witness stand and speaking in a firm voice, Lawrence Dally told jurors that his son was home on May 6, 1996, not covering up evidence of a murder as prosecutors have suggested.

The father told jurors he had dinner that evening with his son, Michael, and his two grandchildren, Max and Devon. He said he watched the trio walk home together, and contrary to earlier testimony said the boys did not spend the night at his home.

“As far as I know, he [Michael Dally] was at his house,” Lawrence Dally testified, drawing a fiery response from prosecutors who suggested he was lying.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Frawley challenged the father’s statements, suggesting he had concocted a story to protect his son, who is facing murder charges in the kidnap-slaying of his wife, Sherri.

“Mr. Dally, do you believe it is important to your son’s case that the jury believe [he] was home after midnight on May 6?” Frawley asked, prompting a quick objection from the defense.

The father was not allowed to answer the question, but later acknowledged he had discussed the subject with his wife, Yaeko, and a defense investigator.

Prosecutors contend Michael Dally lied to police about being asleep at home on May 6 and was actually out with his lover, Diana Haun, concealing evidence of a crime.

When a police officer knocked on Dally’s door that night there was no response, and witnesses said they saw Haun’s car parked a mile from the site where Sherri Dally’s stabbed and beaten body was later found by a volunteer search party.

In August 1996, Lawrence Dally told the Ventura County Grand Jury he was unsure where his grandsons slept that night, while Yaeko Dally told the panel the children stayed with her and her husband.

Yaeko Dally later testified at co-defendant Diana Haun’s trial that she could not remember where the children had stayed. Haun was found guilty of Sherri Dally’s slaying in November and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Asked by Frawley when he became certain the boys were not sleeping over at his home on May 6, Lawrence Dally became flustered and explained he was confused when he testified to the grand jury.

“When I first testified, I was really screwed up because of my daughter-in-law,” he said, referring to her disappearance. “I could have said anything.”

At that point, Frawley bluntly asked Lawrence Dally whether he had changed his story after learning additional details in his son’s case. Frawley also asked the father if he had persuaded his wife to change her testimony.

Lawrence Dally responded angrily.

“We was under a lot of pressure,” he said in a raised voice. “We lost our daughter. We never thought that would happen to us--but it did.”

The elder Dally acknowledged that he and his wife met with a defense investigator to discuss the events of May 6. But he insisted the meeting was only to clear up his own recollections of what happened.