DALLY JURORS CAN CONVICT DEFENDANT OF LESSER CHARGE.Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer The jury in the trial of Michael Dally, charged in the slaying of his wife, can consider convicting him on a lesser charge than murder that could make him a free man in less than two years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time trial judge ruled Monday. Ventura Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell agreed with a defense request to instruct the jury that they could convict Dally of being an accessory after the fact by allegedly helping his former lover, Diana Haun, cover up the May 1996 murder of Sherri Dally. A conviction on the lesser charge would carry a maximum three-year sentence. Dally has been behind bars since he was arrested 16 months ago, attorneys said. After reviewing two related cases, Campbell agreed to give the jury the compromise verdict compromise verdict n. a decision made by a jury in which the jurors split the difference between the high amount of damages which one group of jurors feel is justified and the low amount other jurors favor. form when they begin deliberations, which could start next week. ``It may be that in a different case, under other circumstances where the stakes weren't so high, I might make a ruling in favor of the (prosecution),'' Campbell said. ``So, although I have some doubts that it's appropriate, I'm going to lean in favor of Mr. Dally and give the instruction, because I'm not convinced that it shouldn't be given. ``And I certainly would hate to have this . . . reversed because I didn't give this instruction,'' Campbell said. ``And I'm not willing to take that risk.'' Stan Goldman, a professor of law at Loyola Law School Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Jesuit school in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Like Loyola University Chicago School of Law and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (separate and unaffiliated in Los Angeles, said the additional option can cut either way, depending on the strength of the evidence. ``(The defense request) would suggest that the defense wants to give the jury something they can compromise on,'' said Goldman, who watched part of the trial that resulted in Haun's murder conviction. By allowing the jury to consider a lesser charge, jurors who might oppose a murder conviction yet don't want Dally to go free can at least come to a compromise, Goldman explained. ``The idea of letting him go scot-free may be something that the jury can't agree on,'' he said. Dally, a 37-year-old former supermarket employee from Ventura, is charged with murder for financial gain, kidnapping and conspiracy in the brutal slaying of his wife, Sherri. Haun, Dally's lover, was convicted of the same charges last year and has been sentenced to life in prison. Sherri Dally was abducted abducted Distal angulation of an extremity away from the midline of the body in a transverse plane and away from a sagittal plane passing through the proximal aspect of the foot or part, or away from some other specified reference point from a Target shopping center parking lot in Ventura in May 1996. Her body was found several weeks later in a ravine north of Ventura. Prosecutors charge that Haun dressed as a police detective, complete with a badge and handcuffs hand·cuff n. A restraining device consisting of a pair of strong, connected hoops that can be tightened and locked about the wrists and used on one or both arms of a prisoner in custody; a manacle. Often used in the plural. tr.v. , to abduct abduct /ab·duct/ (ab-dukt´) to draw away from the median plane, or (the digits) from the axial line of a limb.abdu´cent ab·duct v. Sherri Dally, and then beat and stabbed her to death. Although their case is built on circumstantial evidence circumstantial evidence In law, evidence that is drawn not from direct observation of a fact at issue but from events or circumstances that surround it. If a witness arrives at a crime scene seconds after hearing a gunshot to find someone standing over a corpse and holding a , prosecutors contend that Dally planned the murder with the help of Haun. The prosecutors therefore argued Monday against giving jurors the option of convicting Dally of the lesser crime. Dally's attorneys maintain that Haun was obsessed ob·sess v. ob·sessed, ob·sess·ing, ob·sess·es v.tr. To preoccupy the mind of excessively. v.intr. with Dally and that she acted alone. Today the two sides will hold an inquiry into a juror's request to use a computer spread sheet program to aid in deliberations. If the inquiry finds that one or more jurors have started forming conclusions about the evidence or have discussed the case with each other, it could result in a mistrial A courtroom trial that has been terminated prior to its normal conclusion. A mistrial has no legal effect and is considered an invalid or nugatory trial. It differs from a "new trial," which recognizes that a trial was completed but was set aside so that the issues could be . The prosecution and defense have ended their cases. Closing arguments are expected to begin Wednesday. |
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