Accused Judge Is Victim of Vengeful ‘Outing,’ Defense Says

A judge accused of pulling a gun on her domestic partner was actually the victim of a deliberate “outing” by a vengeful lover after being told their relationship was over, a defense lawyer said Tuesday.

The opening statement in the trial that could end the career of Superior Court Judge Diana R. Hall marked the first time that her defense revealed its strategy to argue that all the domestic violence charges against her are based on lies.

Attorney Jack Earley told jurors that a 911 tape will prove that Hall never grabbed a gun or engaged in any kind of domestic abuse in an argument last year with Deidra Dykeman, 39, her domestic partner of four years.

“When this is over, you will have absolutely no doubt that she is innocent,” Earley told a jury of seven women and five men picked earlier in the day.

The defense portrayal of Hall as a victim of a controlling woman motivated by holding on to the Santa Ynez Valley home they shared contrasted dramatically with a picture painted by Assistant Dist. Atty. Kimberly Smith.

Describing Hall as a “nasty drunk,” Smith guaranteed the jury that the same 911 tape, to be played later in the trial, will actually show that Dykeman is lucky to be alive.

“Picking up the phone to call 911 was the first mistake Deidra Dykeman made that could have cost her her life,” Smith said.

Hall was obsessed with keeping her same-sex relationship secret so that she could be assured of reelection in the conservative north Santa Barbara County area where she worked, Smith said.

When she heard the 911 call, she knew that law enforcement officials would learn her secrets and she “erupted like a volcano,” Smith said.

The prosecutor, holding Hall’s .38-caliber revolver as she walked slowly past the jury, said jurors will get goose bumps when they hear Dykeman on the tape screaming, “Oh, my God! She’s got a gun. She’s got a gun.”

Hall, 52, is charged with two felony and four misdemeanor counts. The felony charges are dissuading a crime victim from calling police and destruction of a telephone during an attempt to call 911. She is also charged with misdemeanor counts of battery, brandishing a gun, driving under the influence and driving with a blood alcohol count of .08. Her blood alcohol level was .18.

If found guilty of any felony, state law provides that a judge be first suspended and then automatically removed from office after appeals are exhausted.

Hall was removed from her duties as a judge after the Dec. 21 incident but remains on full salary.

During the preliminary hearing, Dykeman testified that she had gone home the night of Dec. 21 to find Hall drunk and upset about professional problems she was having with defense lawyers.

An effort was beginning by public defenders to have Hall systematically removed from all cases on the grounds that she was too tough on the bench and unfair to defense lawyers.

Dykeman testified in April that Hall became abusive and threatened to shoot one of their two dogs. She said Hall pulled her hair, waved a gun at her and blocked her from using her phone to call for help.

The judge then drove away, leaving the gun behind, Dykeman testified. Hall was stopped near the couple’s home by sheriff’s deputies and arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

In addition to testimony from witnesses, Judge Carol Koppel-Claypool has scheduled hearings today and Thursday to determine whether previously closed pretrial hearings in the case should be made public. The judge has sealed all proceedings in the case on the grounds that it would jeopardize Hall’s right to a fair trial. Both The Times and the Santa Barbara News-Press, citing state court rules and constitutional free-press issues, argued that the judge should unseal all records in the case. They argued that there was plenty of evidence showing that an impartial jury could be selected.

A group of 116 prospective jurors was impaneled before the jury was picked Tuesday, and about 15 said they were prejudiced by pretrial publicity. Virtually all said they had heard of the case.