page_title: Kerry Lyn Dalton
section_title: Trial
hierarchical_section_title: Kerry Lyn Dalton / Trial
caption_attribution_description: English: Certification of no record
context_page_description: Kerry Lyn Dalton was convicted of first-degree murder in May 1995 and was sentenced to death by lethal injection the same year. Since her sentencing, she has been incarcerated at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California, awaiting her execution and appealing her death sentence. On May 16, 2019, the Supreme Court of California published their opinion on Ms Dalton's automatic appeal. The Justices found the charge of lying-in-wait and the charge of conspiracy were invalid; therefore they recommended that her sentence should be 25 years to life. The California Supreme Court did not invalidate the third death-qualified charge against Ms. Dalton; therefore she continues to be condemned. Although the Supreme Court issues opinions and can order a case to be re-tried, they do not enforce their opinions.
context_section_description: On February 14, 1995, on the 6th day of Dalton's trial, the presiding judge, Thomas J. Whelan, made this statement:  "I think the record is clear that no body has ever been found in this case. The record is equally clear that there is circumstantial evidence that there was a homicide. There's also conflicting circumstantial evidence that it may not be a homicide; in fact, she may still be alive ..."  Whelan went on to say, "My reason for making these statements is to establish for the record that in my mind corpus is a legitimate issue in this case. It's not a ruse that - there is a legitimate issue before the jury as to whether or not there's - a corpus of a homicide has been established". (trial transcripts: p. 3507, CR NO. 135002).
  In response to a question from the prosecutor and an objection from the defense, the judge said, "Ladies and gentlemen, in the last question Mr. Dusek asked, he mentioned that the - Melanie May - in this case, is deceased. That's a fact for you to decide. It's inappropriate for him to put that in the question...whether or not Miss May is in fact deceased or not, because that's something for you to decide". (trial transcripts: p. 4661, CR NO. 135002)
  The alleged confessions from Ms. Dalton in regards to the murder of Ms. May are solely based on Prosecutor's investigator Richard Cooksey repeating hearsay. There is no record of any confession coming directly from Kerry Dalton.
  Dalton accused Prosecutor Jeff Dusek, of purposeful misconduct. "The thing that makes me the most mad is that he is lying, and he knows he's lying," she said at the trial. The jury's foreman, John Castleman, said they based the verdict of death on "the type of murder it was", although there was no physical evidence to support the prosecution's story that there even was a murder.
caption: Certification of no record
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