Famalaro Defense Says Huber ‘Died Within an Hour’

SANTA ANA — Attorneys for murder defendant John J. Famalaro said Thursday that they won’t contest that their client killed Denise Huber but contend he did it within an hour of encountering her on the freeway, without kidnapping or raping her.

How long the Newport Beach woman--who was missing for three years--may have suffered or been held captive before being killed has been one of the biggest questions surrounding the high-profile case.

“There was no captivity, no longevity,” Deputy Public Defender Leonard Gumlia said outside court. “She died within an hour.”

Gumlia said the approximate time of death can be estimated by Huber’s blood alcohol level, which is believed to be 0.07% when she died. The Newport Beach woman disappeared on June 3, 1991, after attending a rock concert. Her car, with a flat tire, was found abandoned with its emergency lights blinking on the Costa Mesa Freeway.

The prosecution had presented overwhelming evidence linking the 39-year-old Famalaro to the killing before resting its case Wednesday but did not address how long Huber may have survived after encountering Famalaro. Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher Evans said it was “inappropriate and unethical” for the defense attorney to discuss the case outside court and declined to comment further.

The defense began presenting witnesses Thursday but declined to make an opening statement to the jury, as is usually done in criminal trials. Gumlia and co-defense attorney Denise Gragg have made it clear that they will not try to convince the panel of nine women and three men that Famalaro is not guilty of first-degree murder.

Instead, their main objective is to disprove allegations that Famalaro kidnapped and sexually assaulted Huber--charges that make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted. They say there is no evidence to show that Huber was abducted, and they dispute testimony from two forensic scientists who say sperm was found in her body.

Famalaro, a house painter and former resident of Lake Forest, was arrested in July 1994 after Huber’s body was found stuffed inside a locked freezer in a Ryder rental truck parked outside his Arizona home.

The first insight into Famalaro’s demeanor about the time of Huber’s death came Thursday during the testimony of a 74-year-old Dana Point man who said he spent the morning with Famalaro, several hours after Huber disappeared.

Naurbon Perry, whose house Famalaro was hired to paint, said the defendant appeared to be behaving normally as they conducted business on the morning of June 3 but that Famalaro disappeared for several days after that. Perry said that when Famalaro finally resurfaced, he was a different man.

“He looked ill,” Perry testified. “He looked nervous. He looked like he had not slept too much. He looked like he was too sick to talk.”

Gumlia said he will argue that Famalaro became extremely ill after the killing and plans to call a doctor to the stand next week to testify about the “malaise” his client suffered.

“Something happened that affected him,” Gumlia explained. “He’s sick to his stomach over what’s happened.”

Other witnesses called Thursday included Cynthia Brown of Westminster, who said she drove by the spot where Huber disappeared only minutes after the tire blew out but did not see any sign of Huber.

Also called to the stand were two Costa Mesa police officers who responded to the freeway site. They testified that they did not see any obvious signs of a struggle at the scene.