Jurors in the yacht murder trial will hear from a courtroom legend this afternoon when the prosecution calls Dr. Park Dietz to the witness stand.

He is one of the most prominent forensic psychiatrists in the United States, and also one of the most controversial. He has reportedly testified more than 1,000 times, including in some of the most notorious murder cases in recent United States history.

According to his profile in Wikipedia, Dietz (pictured at right in a 1999 file photo from the Associated Press) has worked on cases involving Jeffrey Dahmer, John Hinckley, Andrea Yates, Deana Laney, Susan Smith, Cary Stayner, Polly Klaas, the Menendez Brothers, John DuPont, The Unabomber, the New York Zodiac, and the Prom Mom Case; the shootings at the Empire State Building and the U.S. Capitol; the DC sniper cases, and the school shootings at Columbine and elsewhere.

Dietz also testified in one of most serious murder cases in Orange County history: the 2005 trial of  Alejandro Avila, who was convicted and is on Death Row for sexually assaulting and murdering 5-year-old Samantha Runnion.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy (left) will call Dietz to the witness stand this afternoon in the penalty phase of the trial for Skylar Deleon, a bit child actor and an AWOL Marine who was convicted last month of three counts of first-degree murder.

Deleon was convicted of murdering Thomas and Jackie Hawks in November 2004 in a botched plot to steal their yacht by tying them to an anchor and throwing them overboard, and in the throat-slashing death of Jon Peter Jarvi in a separate murder-for-money scheme in December 2003.

The same jury is now hearing additional evidence to help it decide whether to give Deleon the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole

Murphy will call Dietz to rebut evidence offered last week from Dr. Mark Cunnungham, a Texas psyhcologist who testified for defense attorney Gary Pohlson that Deleon, 29, of Long Beach, was emotionally scarred from childhood by his drug-abusing mother and his manipulative and controlling father.

Dietz is expected to testify among other things that Deleon’s childhood was not so bad that it would turn him into a multiple killer; that Deleon could have made choices in life other than killing people; and that most others who experience lousy childhoods do not become violent killers.

Recent Deleon news

• Prosecution in yacht case to call psychiatrist on Monday
• Psychologist testifies Deleon was predisposed to violence
• Can a psychologist save Skylar Deleon?
• Skylar’s mom whispers “I am so sorry”
• Deleon’s sister testifies bluntly that Dad was a jerk
• Deleon’s stepmom testifies his dad beat him for not being perfect
• Deleon’s father was a drug dealer, a wife-beater and a child-abuser, defense attorney says
• Skylar Deleon will not testify in penalty phase of yacht trial
• Tom Hawks’ son chokes back tears as he testifies about his Dad
• Prosecutor says Deleon solicited the murders of witnesses against him
• Penalty phase in yacht trial will focus on botched burglary
• Skylar’s “horrific” childhood save his life?
• Guilty: Jury deliberates for just two hours in yacht murder trial
• Verdicts reached in yacht trial

About the case

• Newport couple killed at sea
• Timelines: Yacht case, Jarvi case
• Victims: Thomas Hawks, Jackie Hawks, Jon Peter “JP” Jarvi
• Defendants: Skylar Deleon, Jennifer Deleon, Myron Gardner, John F. Kennedy, Alonso Machain
• Complete coverage: Missing at sea
• Frank Mickadeit’s columns on the case.

Posted in: Courts • Deleon • In the halls of justice • Miscellaneous • Deleon |

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