Did he do it? Bechler says ‘absolutely not’

Deepa Bharath

SANTA ANA -- The Newport Beach man accused of dumping his wife in the

ocean during a boating trip in 1997 took the stand Thursday to tell his

story before a packed audience of jurors, curious observers and the

media.

Eric Bechler, 33, repeatedly refuted accusations that he murdered his

38-year-old wife, Pegye Bechler, or that he had ever plotted to dump her

in the ocean. Bechler said he initially thought his wife was “playing a

trick” on him when he came up from under the water and saw that she was

not on the boat.

“The wave hit, and I fell in,” he recalled. “And when I came back up,

she was gone, and the boat was [circling].”

Prosecutors have accused Bechler of knocking his wife on the head with

a dumbbell and pushing her body into the ocean. He has pleaded not guilty

-- consistently maintaining, as he did Thursday, that his wife was swept

overboard by a wave that hit the speedboat while she was towing him on a

bodyboard.

On Thursday, a soft-spoken Bechler described the events preceding his

wife’s disappearance. His calm and collected demeanor on the witness

stand was in sharp contrast to the behavior jurors have witnessed from

him on audio and videotapes entered into evidence. During his interview

with investigators, he broke down and cried several times.

During his testimony, Bechler often referred to his wife as “Peg” and

said he thought she was “pretty cute” when he met her on the beach,

introduced to her by mutual friends.

Bechler also testified that his confession to Tina New, his former

girlfriend and a key prosecution witness, was an effort to satisfy her

fantasy of being with “bad boys.” After a night of drinking and taking

the drug Ecstasy, New held his hand and told him she was having a psychic

vision, Bechler said.

“She spoke in seductive tones when I went with her vision that I’d hit

Pegye on the head,” he said. “When I said that was not the truth, she

yelled and screamed. So I just gave in and admitted it to appease her.”

He was hopelessly infatuated with the aspiring actress, Bechler said,

and would do anything to be with her.

“She was exciting and exotic,” he said. “I was in an abusive

relationship. The more she abused me, the more I came back to her.”

New -- who helped investigators secretly record conversations during

which Bechler reportedly talked about killing his wife -- testified last

month that Bechler, after a night of partying and taking the drug

Ecstasy, disclosed chilling details of how he murdered his wife and

strapped 70 pounds of weights to her body, then dumped her in the ocean.

In answer to statements by prosecution witnesses, Bechler suggested

that his friend Kobi Laker, who testified last month, had taken a

conversation out of context. Laker testified that Bechler told him four

months before his wife’s disappearance that he wanted to stuff her in a

barrel and dump her in the ocean.

Bechler said he was angry with his wife the day that he talked to

Laker because she had made business decisions without consulting him.

“I said I was so mad I could throw her off a boat or take her out on a

boat and dump her in the ocean,” he said.

“But did you do that or try to do that?” questioned Bechler’s

attorney, John Barnett.

“Absolutely not,” he replied.

Bechler also denied an alleged plan to videotape his wife using

cocaine so he could take their three children away from her. He told

Deputy Dist. Atty. Debora Lloyd during cross-examination that he was

worried that his wife was cheating on him and angry because she expressed

a desire to experiment with cocaine.

Earlier Thursday, Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel denied a defense

motion to throw out the case based on jurisdiction issues. Barnett had

argued that the prosecution did not prove the crime had been committed in

California waters.

Lloyd is expected to continue her cross-examination of Bechler when

the trial resumes Monday morning.