Jurors Won’t Hear Dally Ultimatum

An anguished letter written by Sherri Dally will not be used in court against her husband, who is accused of hatching the plot to kidnap and kill her last year, a judge ruled Monday.

The 10-page letter to Michael Dally gave him an ultimatum to leave his girlfriend, Diana Haun, or move out. But it is too prejudicial to be allowed, said Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell during a hearing on pretrial motions.

Campbell did agree, however, to allow jurors to hear evidence that Michael Dally used drugs and consorted with prostitutes, finding that it sheds light on the state of his relationship with Sherri Dally.

Campbell made his ruling Monday while sorting through some of the dozens of pretrial motions filed by the defense, including motions to exclude testimony about Michael Dally’s alleged drug use, alleged use of prostitutes and alleged Satanism.

Defense attorneys James M. Farley and Robert Schwartz filed the motions to challenge the proposed evidence as irrelevant and based on hearsay.

But prosecutors argued that the evidence was central to their theory that Dally conspired with Haun to kidnap and kill his wife on May 6, 1996.

Haun was sentenced in November to life in prison without the possibility of parole for kidnapping and killing Sherri Dally on May 6, 1996. Haun has since filed an appeal of her conviction.

Prosecutors say Michael Dally conspired with Haun to kill his wife, in part because he did not want to go through a costly divorce or risk losing his two sons in a custody battle.

Sherri Dally’s letter forced her husband to act, prosecutors said Monday.

Dally wrote: “You can’t have both of us at the same time Michael and as hard as this is to say . . . you need to make a choice, are you going to give up everything here for her?”

“He stated he could not afford a divorce . . . and he was aware that things were coming to a head for her and there was a motive to getting things done,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Frawley.

But Campbell said there was no evidence that Michael Dally ever saw the letter or knew of his wife’s feelings. Investigators found the letter on top of a refrigerator in the Dally home 12 days after Sherri’s disappearance.

“It’s incredibly prejudicial against Mr. Dally because . . . the anguish and emotional tug of the letter seems to outweigh what it would prove,” Campbell said.

But Campbell allowed for the admission of evidence that Dally hired prostitutes and used drugs.

Prosecutor Lela Henke-Dobroth said some of the proposed testimony will contradict statements Michael Dally made to police after his wife’s disappearance. At that time, Dally said his marital difficulties were minor and that they merely had problems communicating.

But defense attorney Farley said the sole basis for much of the evidence was to attack his client’s character. The prosecution’s plan to use 10 witnesses to testify about Michael Dally’s involvement with drugs and prostitution was overkill, he said.

“It’s just reinforcing to the jury that he was a bad guy,” Farley said. “But there is no evidence that Mr. Dally killed his wife or even knew about a plot to kill his wife.”

Campbell ultimately said the evidence about Dally’s drug use and encounters with prostitutes was admissible, in part because it shed light on the true state of the couple’s marriage.

The prosecution argued that Michael Dally’s involvement with drugs and prostitutes also contributed to the couple’s financial difficulties and was entwined in the special-circumstance charge of killing for financial gain.

Campbell agreed to allow evidence that Sherri Dally was constantly worried about money, telling friends that she could not figure out where all of his money went. Michael Dally was a night manager at Vons supermarket and his wife operated a day-care center at the couple’s home. He paid the mortgage on the house, and she took care of all the other expenses.

Campbell also said he would allow evidence related to coded messages that prosecutors say Michael Dally and Haun sent each other on their pagers. Dally’s code was “666,” and the messages continued even after Haun was first picked up and questioned about the slaying, prosecutors say.

But the judge would not allow testimony from friends of Sherri Dally about cruel and abusive remarks they say Michael Dally made to his wife, finding the statements were hearsay.

Campbell will hear more pretrial motions Wednesday. Jury selection will resume Jan. 12 in Santa Barbara.