Thorny Issue in Murder Trial: When Is a Spouse Not a Spouse?

Susan Jurcoane’s husband fled their Antelope Valley home July 4, 1984, after he allegedly shot and killed two people at a nearby cherry ranch.

For the next 17 years, Susan raised their three children alone, while Josif Jurcoane, now 51, lived in Tijuana with another woman, evading U.S. authorities.

In April he was extradited to the United States for prosecution.

At the time, prosecutors hoped his wife would be their star witness. But she has evoked spousal privilege, saying she cannot be forced to testify against her husband.

Retired San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Carol S. Koppel, sitting by assignment in Lancaster, ruled that the privilege did not apply in this case. She ordered Susan Jurcoane to testify at the preliminary hearing, declaring the 25-year marriage “moribund.”

Now her lawyer, Joseph A. Pertel, is asking the 2nd District Court of Appeal to reverse Koppel’s ruling. The appellate court stayed all trial proceedings involving Susan Jurcoane until the matter is settled. Oral arguments are scheduled for Tuesday in Los Angeles, with a ruling expected within 90 days.

In the trial court, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Rouman Ebrahim successfully argued that the spousal privilege did not apply in this case because Josif Jurcoane abandoned his family 17 years ago, and had not communicated with or provided financial support for them during most of that time.

“There is no marriage in the sense of a real marriage between these parties,” the judge ruled.

On appeal, Susan Jurcoane’s lawyer will ask the justices to interpret the plain language of the law, which clearly states that one spouse cannot be compelled to testify against another.

There are seven exceptions, none of which requires a court to examine the state of the defendant’s marriage, Pertel said. The exceptions include bigamy, incompetency or the commission of a crime before the marriage.

Under state law, a marriage is terminated only with the death of one party, an annulment or divorce.

The Jurcoanes were never divorced.

If the appellate court allows this exception, “every marital relationship is then going to be potentially subject to inquiry” by the court before the spousal privilege can be asserted, Pertel said.

Susan Jurcoane doesn’t want to testify against the father of her two daughters and one son because she fears it could hurt her relationship with them, her lawyer said.

The Legislature enacted the privilege “to prevent the potential disruption of a marital relationship,” which, prosecutors say, is unlikely if not impossible in this case.

“To be able to use the privilege in a case with these facts . . . mocks the privilege and the important function it has in society,” Ebrahim said.

In their appellate brief, prosecutors argue that the Jurcoane marriage “continued to exist only by virtue of the existence of a marriage license and nothing more.”

They note that Jurcoane’s reunion with his family was “not a happy homecoming, motivated by love for petitioner and his three abandoned children, but by the laws of extradition which exist between this country and Mexico.”

According to authorities, Jurcoane worked for a few years in the early 1980s as a farmhand and mechanic and lived on Mountain Brook Ranch, owned by Lloyd “Bill” Bryden in Valyermo, near Palmdale.

Their relationship was reportedly rocky. “He would fire [Jurcoane] and rehire him,” Ebrahim said.

Then, around Memorial Day 1984, the men argued and Bryden ordered Jurcoane to leave his property, the prosecutor said. Jurcoane moved his family nearby.

Susan Jurcoane and Bryden’s live-in girlfriend, Alice B. McCannel, remained friends, but had an argument July 4 that year over who owned a pig, a pony and chickens.

When Susan told her husband about the dispute, he told her, “I’ll be back,” according to police reports. Jurcoane grabbed his shotgun and some shells and drove off in his truck, Ebrahim said.

A few minutes later, Susan summoned authorities, telling them she heard three or four shots, then Josif Jurcoane returned home. Police reports said her husband told her, “Susan, I shot them,” then hurriedly packed some clothes and left in another pickup.

“And he was not seen until recently,” Ebrahim said.

Authorities found the bodies of Bryden, 47, and McCannel, 39, at the ranch, and Jurcoane’s shotgun in a truck. A few days later, Jurcoane was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Jurcoane called his wife a few times immediately after he fled to Mexico, but there has been “absolutely no contact” since those early days, Ebrahim said.

The defendant had lived with a woman in Tijuana for 16 years.

The Mexican government turned over Jurcoane to the U.S. for prosecution on the condition that he not face the death penalty.

Jurcoane, who pleaded not guilty in May, is being held without bail at the North County Correctional Facility in Saugus. He faces life in prison without parole.

According to extradition papers filed in court, Jurcoane told Mexican authorities that he left the United States because he was scared. He said a person nicknamed “El Loco” used his 12-gauge shotgun to kill Bryden and McCannel.