12 Jurors Finally Selected for Haun Murder Trial

SANTA BARBARA —  Exactly one month after jury selection began, a dozen Santa Barbara County residents were chosen Wednesday to serve as jurors in the murder trial of Diana Haun.

Seven men and five women--including a city planner, court clerk, retired businessman and former waitress--were chosen to decide the guilt or innocence of Haun, accused of slaying her lover’s wife.

In addition to the 12 regular jurors, six alternates were chosen to replace any panelists who might be excused during the trial.

Judge Frederick A. Jones asked the jury to return to a Santa Barbara courtroom today for instructions on a variety of issues, including how and at what times they would be bused to Ventura when testimony begins Monday.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys are expected to give opening statements in the capital murder case Monday morning, and the first pieces of evidence should be offered by the end of the day, Jones said.

His remarks closed the final phase of jury selection, which ended swiftly Wednesday afternoon after four weeks of extensive interviews with hundreds of jury candidates.

More than 500 residents were summoned for the case, and about half were excused for financial or personal hardships.

Attorneys narrowed the pool considerably before selecting the final jurors and alternates.

Only about a dozen extra prospective jurors were left sitting in the courtroom by late Wednesday afternoon when prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed on the 18 panelists.

“To those of you who were not called, I want to thank you personally,” Jones told them.

“This has been a long process for us as you know,” he said. “It’s been a long one for you also.”

The lawyers and the judge labored to find an open-minded jury that has not been exposed to the heavy publicity surrounding the high-profile Ventura County case.

They screened prospective jurors on a wide range of subjects, including the death penalty and the alternative punishment of life in prison without possibility of parole.

Haun is charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy plus two special circumstance allegations that make her eligible for the death penalty in the slaying of Sherri Dally last year.

Haun’s longtime lover and co-defendant, Michael Dally, is charged with the same offenses for allegedly planning and carrying out his wife’s killing with Haun.

Dally and Haun are facing separate trials. His is not scheduled to begin until her trial concludes.

If the jury finds Haun guilty of the crimes, the same jury would be asked to decide whether she should be put to death or sent to prison for the rest of her life.

It was a difficult issue for some prospective jurors, who said they could never vote to take another person’s life. But of the jurors seated Wednesday, all said they would not automatically vote for or against the death penalty.

A Santa Barbara city planner picked for the Haun jury told Jones that he would keep an open mind and would not lean in favor of either the death penalty or life in prison without hearing all of the evidence.

Another juror, a young father of two who is a night stockroom worker for a food company, said he supports the death penalty but would not automatically vote for it in Haun’s case.

Haun’s jury is comprised of several government employees, including a Municipal Court clerk, a county planner and a systems analyst who formerly worked for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.

Three retirees also were picked, including a retired businessman, a former waitress and a retired woman who previously served on another capital murder case.

In that late 1980s trial, she said, a man was accused of killing four people. He was found guilty, she said, but after the penalty phase the jury decided to sentence the man to life in prison without the possibility of parole--not death.

Of the 12 regular jurors, three were among the first dozen randomly called into the jury box by the court clerk on the first day of questioning earlier this week.

To determine which potential panelists may harbor biases, those called back this week were quizzed on a range of subjects, including some unusual questions about their opinions on witchcraft, mysticism and the occult.

Haun’s attorneys told jury candidates there may be witnesses who testify that have been involved with psychics or “other unorthodox religious beliefs.”

Would a person with such beliefs, they asked, be less credible in your eyes?

“I have no problem with a psychic or someone who reads Tarot cards,” answered one man, who was later excused. “But if someone came in and said they communed with the spirit of Elvis Presley regularly, I would probably question their credibility.”