DEFENSE BEGS JURY TO SPARE DALLY'S LIFE.

Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer

The attorney for convicted wife killer Michael Dally made a final appeal Wednesday for his client's life, asking jurors to spare Dally's young sons and parents the suffering that his execution would bring.

Speaking softly, defense attorney James Farley said a death sentence would provide no solace to the family of Dally's murdered wife, Sherri, but would create a new wave of grief and anguish among innocent victims.

``Somehow, I think we've lost sight,'' Farley said. ``Max and Devon (Dally) are victims of their mother's death. Mr. and Mrs. Dally are victims of their daughter-in-law's death. Shall we make them victims some more?''

Michael Dally, 37, sat passively, almost serenely, as he listened to the plea that he be sentenced to life in prison without parole, rather than death.

``Whether Michael Dally dies on the table by lethal injection or in a cell as an old man, there's no joy in that,'' Farley said.

The portly, silver-haired lawyer said the death penalty is nothing more than state-sanctioned vengeance, and he urged the jury to distinguish between Dally and the crimes he was convicted of. Without mercy, Farley said, society might as well resort to shootouts in the streets. He urged jurors to break a cycle of violence. ``Maybe it can stop with you,'' he said.

Farley's soothing closing argument contrasted sharply with tense, emotional testimony in the previous two days, when Dally himself took the stand and proclaimed his innocence. He claimed that he played no role in the kidnapping and brutal slaying of his wife, whose dismembered body was found in a remote ravine three weeks after she disappeared in May 1996.

But prosecutors convinced the jury that Dally was the mastermind of the plot, carried out by his lover, Diana Haun. She was convicted last fall of kidnapping, murder and conspiracy, and she is serving a life sentence.

In closing arguments Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney Michael Frawley characterized Dally as a monster and manipulator who used his sons to engender sympathy for him.

``This murder was accomplished in the most savage, brutal way you can imagine,'' Frawley said. ``So you have to imagine what is in someone's heart to have that done.''

Mercy might be appropriate if Dally had ever shown remorse for his actions, the prosecutor said. But the fact that the defendant never took responsibility means that the jury must hold him accountable, Frawley said.

``The defendant stole Sherri Dally's hopes and dreams,'' he said. ``And as long as there is life, there is hope. And the defendant simply doesn't deserve hope.''