Trial to Start in a Year for Huber Killing

SANTA ANA —  It probably will be a year--if not longer--before a handyman goes on trial on charges of sexually assaulting and murdering a young Newport Beach woman and then keeping her nude body in a freezer for more than three years.

On Friday, Orange County Superior Court Judge Kathleen E. O’Leary set an Oct. 2, 1995, trial date for John J. Famalaro to give attorneys sufficient time to prepare for what may be a death penalty case.

Famalaro, 37, is accused of kidnaping, sexually assaulting and bludgeoning Denise Huber, 23, after her car broke down June 3, 1991, along a local freeway. A former Lake Forest resident, Famalaro was arrested in July after authorities found Huber’s body in a freezer inside a stolen rental truck parked in his driveway in Prescott, Ariz.

Defense attorneys say they especially need the time--and may even ask for more--to go through thousands of documents and other items seized from Famalaro’s cluttered home.

Deputy Public Defender Leonard Gumlia said he also anticipates tracking down 400 to 500 people who may have known Famalaro in the past to begin building a defense.

“It’s a big job,” Gumlia said.

Also adding to the need for more preparation time, Gumlia said, is that complex DNA evidence will likely become an issue in the case because authorities say Huber was sexually assaulted. Gumlia said it is too early to discuss defense strategy but stressed that he does not plan to argue that Huber may have consented to sex by her assailant--whoever that might be.

“There was a small amount of semen found (on the body) and right now we are waiting for more information” about who the semen can be traced to, Gumlia said. “We are in no way suggesting that, if it was deposited that night (of the killing), that it was consensual.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Dennis Bauer, a DNA expert at the Orange County district attorney’s office, is joining Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans in prosecuting the case.