Defender’s Request Leads to Latest Delay in Famalaro Trial

The murder trial of John J. Famalaro, already delayed for more than 2 1/2 years, was delayed again Tuesday, this time for two weeks.

Jury selection in the case had been scheduled to begin Monday with 1,000 people being called as potential jurors in the high-profile case. But one of Famalaro’s attorneys, Deputy Public Defender Denise Gragg, asked for time off to be with her ill sister.

Gragg had asked that the trial begin on April 16, but Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher Evans, who is prosecuting the case, objected that such a long delay would interfere with the availability of some witnesses.

Orange County Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan, who said the continual delays are causing “administrative problems” for the court, agreed to a compromise date of March 24.

Ryan expressed concern for Gragg and remarked that her personal situation has not affected her courtroom performance. The judge also stressed the need to begin the case soon because there are also other cases on his calendar that must be tried.

Famalaro, who was in court Tuesday, agreed to the delay.

The former Orange County resident is accused of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and bludgeoning Newport Beach resident Denise Huber after her car broke down on the Corona del Mar Freeway in 1991. Famalaro was arrested in 1994 after Huber’s body was discovered inside a freezer in a truck that was parked in the driveway of Famalaro’s home in Dewey, Ariz.