Famalaro Defense Rests After Trying to Refute Special Circumstances

SANTA ANA — Setting the stage for today’s closing arguments, attorneys for murder defendant John J. Famalaro concluded their case Tuesday by attempting to refute the prosecution’s contention that victim Denise Huber was kidnapped and sexually assaulted before her death.

But outside court, the victim’s mother said it is inconceivable to her that her 23-year-old daughter would have gone willingly with Famalaro to the Laguna Hills warehouse where the prosecution contends she was bludgeoned to death. The Newport Beach woman’s rear tire had blown out on the Costa Mesa Freeway while she was on her way home from a concert on June 3, 1991.

“I have no doubt in my mind that Denise would not go willingly to that warehouse,” Ione Huber said. “She would not do that. I know her that well.”

Ione Huber and her husband, Dennis, have attended each court session and sat in the front row of the courtroom only a few feet away from the defendant. They have been joined most days by their son, Jeff, and other relatives and friends.

Deputy Public Defender Denise Gragg, one of Famalaro’s two attorneys, said that the trial and the presence of the victim’s family have been difficult for her client.

“Every day he walks in and sees the Hubers, he feels bad,” she said.

Gragg said that Famalaro’s discomfort isn’t from hearing graphic testimony about the crimes he has been accused of but is “due to knowing the things he has done and the pain he has caused.”

The 39-year-old Famalaro could face the death penalty if he is convicted of killing Huber and is found guilty of at least one of the special-circumstance allegations with which he is charged--kidnapping, sodomy or attempted sodomy.

The defense has not argued that Famalaro did not kill Huber but has said that he did not kidnap or sodomize her.

In a final attempt to disprove the sexual assault allegations, the defense called William Joe Collier, the retired director of the Phoenix Police Department Crime Lab, to the witness stand Tuesday. Collier testified that forensic samples collected from the victim’s body could not conclusively be called sperm and that only one is possibly sperm.

Collier faced the jury as he testified, speaking slowly and clearly when questioned by Deputy Public Defender Leonard Gumlia. But he grew defensive at times during a confrontational cross-examination by Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher Evans.

Evans relentlessly queried Collier about his qualifications, the fees he charges to testify for the defense in criminal trials and his general knowledge of biology and forensic science.

“That’s a lawyer game,” Collier said to the jury at one point. “He gets you to say something that’s not true.” Later, he said to Evans, “I’m not going to fall into your trap.”

The tone of the combative exchanges angered Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan, who eventually said: “I’ve had enough of the game. We’re going to have questions. We’re going to have answers. No further comments.”

Also Tuesday, the defense told the jury about an unusual experiment conducted with a pair of high-heeled shoes similar to those worn by Huber the night of her disappearance.

With the experiment, the defense attempted to suggest that walking up and down the freeway embankment where Huber’s car was found could have caused damage to her shoes. Evans contends that the backs of Huber’s shoes were damaged when she was dragged by Famalaro.