Evidence from truck, answering machine tossed out in Dell case

By DAVID CLUCAS
Banner-Graphic Staff Writer
Some evidence collected in a Greencastle murder case will be suppressed, according to a ruling by Putnam Circuit Court Judge Diana LaViolette.

She ruled Wednesday afternoon to deny and grant several defense motions to suppress evidence in the murder trial of Paul Dell.

Dell, 52, was arrested on March 2 for the Feb. 24 murder of restaurant manager Richard Hauff, 61.

Most of the evidence collected by police at the Dell residence and Hathaway's Cafe will be allowed for use by Prosecutor Matt Headley, the ruling allows.

However, evidence such an answering machine message, computer files and materials obtained in Dell's vehicle was ordered suppressed as trial evidence. The judge also allowed the defense team to make further motions to suppress more specific individual items of evidence if it wishes.

The suppression of the answering machine tape and vehicle evidence is a slight setback for the prosecution. Both items included evidence that linked Dell to the murder of Hauff. Judge LaViolette wrote in her ruling that the audio tape evidence "does not meet the criteria of probable cause," and that the vehicle evidence was seized improperly by police. The judge also suppressed the evidence from Dell's personal computer for the same reason as that of the answering machine. The specifics of that computer evidence is not known.

The audio tape was taken out of an answering machine at Hathaway's and is a recording of a Feb. 24 conversation believed to have been between Dell and his wife Jean , who were owners of Hathaway's at the time, just hours before the murder of Hauff.

According to court documents, in the recorded conversation, "Jean Dell expresses her displeasure with Richard's (Hauff) treatment of her, and asks Paul Dell to 'be strong' this evening and not drink too much." Dell goes on to respond: "I'm strong... I'm going to kill the little son of a bitch."

Evidence seized from Dell's vehicle, which is now suppressed, included fresh mud and straw similar to that from the back south lawn of the Black Angus Restaurant, the location of Hauff's murder. Judge LaViolette said in her ruling that "the court found no mention in the affidavit of any vehicles, no referral made to a specific vehicle, or reason to justify the search of 'any' vehicle parked at the Dell residence."

Despite the ruling to suppress some of the evidence, Prosecutor Headley still retains the right to use other evidence obtained at Dell's residence and Hathaway's Cafe. Judge LaViolette denied the defense's motions to also suppress that evidence.

The defense argued that the search warrant of Dell's 701 East Seminary St. apartment was not specific enough and "failed to describe the items to be seized with particularity." Judge LaViolette responded that "the description of items to be seized must be only as specific as the circumstances permit," and "the Fourth Amendment requirements necessitate some degree of flexibility." Therefore, she said that "the language in the affidavit of 'instrumentalities of the crime, such as, but not limited to, bloody clothes and guns(s),' does satisfy the need for reasonable specificity."

However, the judge also stated that she will allow future arguments to be made by the defense if they deem "any individual items taken during the search" not to be "instrumentalities of the crime."

Key evidence obtained in Dell's apartment includes mud and straw covered boots, and a box of .38-caliber bullets, five short of a full box. Five .38-caliber bullets were found at the Black Angus murder scene, one being the fatal bullet that struck Hauff in the head.

"We're reading the judge's carefully, said Dell's defense attorney Robert Hammerle. "We will be following the court's instructions," he said in response to the judge's words that allow future arguments to be made.

Hammerle said that it would take some time and several readings of the ruling before any action his taken by his office.

"In the 27 years that I have been in the profession I have seldom been involved with a case that involved so many questions pertaining to search and seizure," he said. "There are enough issues in this case for it to qualify as a question for a bar exam."

Hammerle said he didn't want to talk about any of the specific trial issues outside the courtroom, but said that he thought the judge did "an extraordinary job at cutting through the issues, in which there is very little precedence for."

The Dell trial date is set for April 15, 2002. A backlog of about 100 cases is part of the delay, along with expected future pretrial meetings between the judge and lawyers. Prosecutor Headley could not be reached for a statement Thursday morning because he was in court.