1 Year After Slaying, Friends to Gather in Honor of Sherri Dally

As prosecutors fought hard Monday to keep the murder trial of Michael Dally and Diana Haun from moving outside Ventura County, friends and relatives of the woman the pair are accused of killing waged their own battles with grief and remembrance.

It has been exactly one year since 35-year-old Sherri Dally disappeared from a Ventura shopping center parking lot after dropping her two sons at school. One year since she was stabbed and beaten to death and her body dumped in a rugged ravine north of the city.

The pain of the anniversary has prompted a few dozen friends and family members to light candles in Sherri Dally’s memory tonight. It has also sent her parents, Ken and Karlyne Guess, out of the area entirely.

“It was just too much for them to stay,” said Sherri Dally’s grandmother, Claris Guess. “It has been very difficult for them.”

Awaiting trial is the victim’s husband, Michael Dally, and his lover, Haun. They are charged with murder, conspiracy and kidnapping for allegedly plotting and carrying out Sherri Dally’s killing.

Defense attorneys are pushing to have their joint murder trial moved outside the county on the grounds that news reports surrounding the case have tainted the prospective jury pool.

But prosecutors argue that an impartial jury can be found locally.

On Monday, they called an expert witness to testify about his analysis of a comprehensive survey of prospective jurors conducted earlier this year.

UC San Diego psychology professor Ebbe B. Ebbesen testified that despite extensive pretrial publicity, potential jurors have not formed opinions about the case.

Instead, he said, details of Sherri Dally’s disappearance, the discovery of her body in June and other details have faded from the public’s memory.

“I would expect people to forget things more and more over time,” Ebbesen said, adding that his research indicates that potential jurors have not formed hard opinions about the guilt or innocence of either Dally or Haun.

Instead, he said, the survey results indicate that people were willing to change their opinions as new information was presented, suggesting that an open-minded jury could be seated when the case begins next month.

“I don’t think just counting up news articles, or the content of newspapers, has that much of an impact on people,” Ebbesen said, countering statements made by defense attorneys in motions last month. “Familiarity with a case doesn’t really tell you how much people know.”

His analysis contradicts statements made by a defense expert last week, and the results of a separate survey conducted by the public defender’s office.

In that survey, 74% of the respondents said Diana Haun was probably or definitely guilty. In contrast, the prosecution’s survey indicated that 60% believed she was probably or definitely guilty.

The discrepancy between the two polls shows that survey results can be skewed by how questions are framed, Ebbesen said.

“Different ways of asking things will give you different results,” Ebbesen said. “No doubt about it.”

Ebbesen’s testimony is expected to continue today under further cross-examination by defense attorneys. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick Jones is expected to decide this week whether the case should be relocated.

Meanwhile, friends and family await the trial.

“I think we’re ready for it,” Guess said Monday. She said the candlelight memorial was Dally’s mother’s idea.

One friend, who asked not to be identified, said the memorial was meant to be more personal then public.

“It’s just meant to be a quiet memorial by those of us that loved her,” the friend said.

The Dally’s two young sons are now in the custody of Michael Dally’s parents, who live in a home just across the street from where he lived with his wife and family before his arrest. Dally’s father takes them to the jail where Michael Dally is awaiting the June 16 trial.

In the Target store parking lot where Dally was kidnapped, shoppers said the case still holds their attention.

“I think it was the mystery about it,” said Carol Shoemaker, 65, of Oxnard, who was shopping with her two grandchildren. “And it was sad.”

Deborah Guthrie, a 39-year-old Ventura architect who was also shopping at the store, said she followed the case from the start.

“I think the way she was murdered and left [in a ravine] was the worst part of it,” Guthrie said.

Dally Case Chronicled Timeline of key dates in the Sherri Dally murder case:

May 6, 1996--Sherri Dally disappears from the Target parking lot in Ventura. Witnesses later tell the grand jury that they saw a woman matching her description get into the back of a blue-green car.

June 1--A search party discovers Dally’s remains in a ravine off La Canada Road north of Ventura.

June 5--Coroner says that Dally was beaten and stabbed to death.

Aug. 1--Diana Haun is arrested on suspicion of killing Dally.

Aug. 16--Ventura County Grand Jury indicts Haun on charges of murder and kidnapping.

Nov. 15--Michael Dally is arrested in connection with his wife’s slaying, and is indicted on charges of murder, conspiracy, kidnapping and special allegations making him eligible for the death penalty. Haun is reindicted on the same charges.

Dec. 4--Haun and Dally plead not guilty.

Dec. 20--District attorney announces that the death penalty will be sought in this case.

April 23, 1997--Grand jury reindicts the pair after the judge dismisses the lying-in-wait allegation.

May 1--Hearing on change of venue motions begins.

June 16--Trial scheduled to begin.