Haun Appeal Focuses on Witch Testimony

After more than a year of legal research and careful preparation, arguments over whether Diana Haun’s 1997 murder conviction should be reversed boiled down to five minutes of discussion Wednesday on one lurid topic.

Witchcraft.

Attorney Barry O. Bernstein told appellate justices reviewing the murder case that allegations his 39-year-old client practiced witchcraft were gratuitous and inflamed the jury during her trial.

But Deputy Atty. Gen. Lawrence Daniels argued that the evidence was relevant because it showed Haun methodically plotted the killing of Ventura homemaker Sherri Dally as a gift to her lover, Michael Dally.

He cited testimony from a Haun co-worker who said that before the killing Haun talked about performing a human sacrifice as a birthday present for a male friend, whom prosecutors argued was Michael Dally.

“When you use the word ‘witchcraft’ it sounds sensational,” Daniels argued. “But . . . this was specific evidence showing appellant’s premeditation in the vicious and terrible murder she committed on Sherri Dally.”

These arguments on Wednesday, before the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Ventura, hit on one of the most sensational aspects of Haun’s trial, although her lawyers have raised several other issues that they believe warrant a reversal.

Haun’s lawyers contend Superior Court Judge Frederick Jones erred by not allowing jurors to consider a lesser verdict of second-degree murder. They also argue that Jones misled the jury about the definition of murder for financial gain and allowed testimony about Haun’s prior affair with another married man, which they say prejudiced the jury against her.

“You’re trying someone on their bad character,” Bernstein said after the hearing.

But Daniels contended the trial focused on Haun’s bad deeds--not her character. He said Ventura County prosecutors presented overwhelming evidence to show Haun planned the killing and carried it out.

“There was overwhelming evidence in this case and she still would have been convicted,” Daniels said after the hearing. “It was really a planned murder.”

Sherri Dally, a 35-year-old mother of two who operated her own day-care center, disappeared from a department store parking lot on May 6, 1996, after witnesses saw her getting into the back seat of a blue-green car driven by a blond woman.

A month later, her skeletal remains were found in the bottom of a steep ravine between Ventura and Ojai. She had been stabbed and beaten to death.

Haun and Michael Dally, lovers who met at the Oxnard grocery store where they worked, were indicted for murder and related charges in late 1996. Prosecutors sought the death penalty during separate trials.

Haun was convicted of murder, conspiracy, kidnapping and a special allegation that she killed Sherri Dally for financial gain. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole after the jury rejected the death penalty.

Michael Dally, now 40, was convicted of the same charges and the jury deadlocked on giving him the death penalty. He is also serving a life sentence and is appealing the conviction. His appeal is expected to be argued next month.

On Wednesday, a crowd of media, relatives and curious onlookers gathered inside the cherry-paneled courtroom to hear arguments on Haun’s appeal. She was not present.

Outside the courtroom, her mother, Kiku Haun, and brother, Jimmy Haun, said they are hopeful her conviction will be thrown out. A decision is expected in four to six weeks.

“As far as we are concerned, she is still innocent,” Jimmy Haun said outside the Santa Clara Street courthouse. “She wants to come home, and we want her home.”