2 Recant Statements in Officer’s Killing

Highlighting the fragility of a case that prosecutors once planned to drop, two witnesses testified at a preliminary hearing Tuesday that they lied to police when they implicated John J.C. Stephens in the killing of a Garden Grove officer six years ago.

The two women--both admitted drug abusers at the time of Officer Howard E. Dallies Jr.’s murder--told the court they had been high when they talked to police and were afraid they would be arrested and lose custody of their children unless they told investigators what they wanted to hear.

“My biggest fear was jail. I felt I had to say everything [police] wanted me to say,” said Terri Arbogast, who at one time told police that Stephens had dyed his hair after the killing. “I’m not going to stand up and see someone go to jail for something they didn’t do.”

Prosecutors are hoping to use the women’s incriminating statements to corroborate earlier testimony from Stephens’ ex-girlfriend, who said that the Buena Park man returned home distraught soon after the killing and dyed his hair to change his appearance.

Defense attorneys, however, intend to convince Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan that Arbogast and Patricia McFarland were coerced into making their statements. If Ryan agrees, the prosecution will not be able to introduce the statements as evidence.