Dally Defense Told to Avoid Grand Jurors

At prosecutors’ urging, Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones on Monday barred defense attorneys for Michael Dally and Diana Haun from contacting grand jury members or questioning them about recent proceedings.

Last month, the grand jury reindicted Dally and Haun on a special-circumstance allegation that makes the accused killers eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

Attorney James Farley, who is representing Dally, said his defense team has been attempting to investigate whether members of the grand jury were improperly influenced before handing down the indictment.

“Most of them have slammed the door in our face,” Farley said in court Monday.

Whatever the results of defense investigators’ queries, prosecutors told Jones it was inappropriate for them to try to contact grand jurors, and the judge agreed.

“That is not going to happen again,” he ordered.

Jones was expected to rule on a defense request to move the upcoming murder trial to another jurisdiction on the grounds that pretrial publicity has tainted the jury pool in Ventura County.

The judge said he was not ready to make a ruling Monday but indicated that a decision would probably come this week.

Dally and Haun, both 36, are charged with the slaying of homemaker Sherri Dally, Michael Dally’s wife. The 35-year-old mother of two was beaten and stabbed to death and dumped in a ravine in a rugged area north of Ventura last year.

Dally and Haun, who were having an affair at the time of Sherri Dally’s death, are scheduled for a jury trial next month.