Kraft Does Not Take Stand at His Trial; Defense Rests

The defense rested in the Randy Steven Kraft serial-murder trial Tuesday.

To the disappointment of spectators crowded into a Santa Ana courtroom, Kraft’s lawyers closed their case without putting their client on the stand. They kept him off after failing to persuade the judge to restrict cross-examination.

Among those upset to hear that Kraft wouldn’t be testifying were some relatives of his alleged victims.

“You bet I’m angry,” said a shaken Rodger DeVaul, whose 20-year-old son, Rodger Jr., was found slain in 1983. “Even if he got up on the witness stand and lied, the prosecutor might have gotten something out of him, so that we might have learned something about what happened. Now we will never know.”

Kraft, a 44-year-old Long Beach computer consultant, has been on trial since last July for murder in the deaths in Orange County of 16 young men between the ages of 18 and 25. If Kraft is convicted, prosecutors have told the court that they may present evidence suggesting that he killed up to 29 other young men, including six in Oregon, two in Michigan and the rest in Southern California. If convicted, Kraft will face the death penalty.

Kraft’s lawyers told Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin last week that their client wanted to testify about five of the 16 murders with which he is charged but only if the judge would prohibit Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan F. Brown from asking any questions about the other 11. The judge refused to rule until after defense lawyers completed their questioning of Kraft.

The courtroom has been two-thirds empty on most days since testimony began last September. But after published reports that the defense planned to rest its case Tuesday, the courtroom was crowded and the number of news media representatives had quadrupled.

After calling three witnesses in the morning session, Kraft attorney C. Thomas McDonald announced that he might have one more witness in the afternoon. Instead, in the afternoon the judge permitted a rare hearing in his chambers--outside public view--for McDonald and co-counsel James G. Merwin to make another pitch for limiting cross-examination. The judge refused again to rule in advance.

“Mr. Kraft definitely wanted to defend himself, but the judge’s ruling precluded that,” McDonald said later.

The defense argued that Kraft, under the constitution, has a right not to answer prosecutors’ questions concerning the 11 murders he chose not to testify about. But prosecutor Brown claims that the 16 murders are linked by Kraft’s method of operation. If would be impossible for Kraft to discuss five murders, the prosecution contends, without him touching on circumstances involving the other deaths.

Kraft was arrested May 14, 1983, when two California Highway Patrol officers on Interstate 5 in Mission Viejo found a dead Marine in the front passenger seat of his car.

Kraft’s decision not to testify has left jurors with no explanation of the circumstances of the Marine’s death. Nor has the defense offered much explanation for pictures of some of the victims--in lewd poses, and appearing dead or unconscious--found in Kraft’s car and at his house.

Defense lawyers have said they recognize that jurors may have some questions but believe that a defense has been presented to each of the 16 murder charges.

The judge excused the jury until Thursday, when Brown is scheduled to begin calling rebuttal witnesses. Brown said that phase of the case would probably take less than a week.

The judge told jurors that closing arguments would be made the week of April 17. Lawyers said closing arguments would take 2 days.

Once jurors begin their deliberations, Judge McCartin has scheduled to have them sequestered at a local hotel until they reach a verdict.

If Kraft is found guilty, the trial then will move into a penalty phase, where the same jurors will have one issue before them: whether to return a verdict of death or life in prison without parole. Should Kraft be acquitted, he would automatically be held for other jurisdictions where he is suspected of serial killings.