SAN RAFAEL (CBS SF) — The testimony at the penalty phase of Joseph Naso’s quadruple murder trial in Marin County Superior Court ended late Friday afternoon with a woman, who believes Naso drugged her during a modeling photography session, stating she does not want him put to death.
“Do you feel I should live,” Naso asked Monique Dahlquist.
“Yes,” she replied.
Judge Andrew Sweet told the members of the jury to disregard Dahlquist’s subsequent comments about her opposition to the death penalty.
Dahlquist was one of two witnesses Naso called before he rested his case. Jury instructions and closing arguments by the prosecution and Naso are scheduled for Monday and are likely to take all day.
When questioned by Deputy District Attorney Dori Ahana Friday afternoon, Dahlquist said she was subpoenaed to testify and believes Naso is guilty of the four prostitutes’ murders between 1977 and 1994.
The jury convicted Naso on Aug. 20. He has been representing himself with help from advisory counsel Pedro Oliveros, and 12 of the 21 jurors hearing the evidence will decide if he should be sentenced to death.
Dahlquist testified she told a television reporter that during a 1986 modeling photography session she sensed Naso had dark energy and feared she might be raped. She said she believes Naso, 79, of Reno, Nev., the former commercial photographer, drugged her during the photo session in her home, and one of the photos was taken when she was unconscious.
The last witness before Ahana and Deputy District Attorney Rosemary Slote rested the prosecution’s case Friday was Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist and an expert in criminology, serial murderers and sexually sadistic murderers.
Dietz has interviewed, testified and counseled law enforcement in some of the country’s most famous serial murder cases.
He testified at length about the profile of those killers; their targeting and luring of vulnerable victims; their preparation for the killings; and their attitudes toward law enforcement and society.
“His ideal victim is merely an object to be used for his satisfaction,” Dietz said about the serial murderers.
The prosecution claims Naso targeted the four prostitutes, strangled them and dumped their bodies along rural roads in Marin, Contra Costa and Yuba counties.
Dietz said he does not have personal knowledge the four women—Roxene Roggasch, 18; Carmen Colon, 22; Pamela Parsons, 38; and Tracy Tafoya, 31—were sexually assaulted and strangled, but his opinion is they were.
Dietz commented on photos of Detective and True Detective magazine covers depicting scantily-dressed women in bondage, and some of Naso’s photos of models in lingerie in suggestive poses.
He said the magazine photos appeal to sexually sadistic men who desire to have women under their control.
He called one of Naso’s photos of mannequins suspended by their necks “creepy.” He said the mannequins could be substitutes for a dead or unconscious body.
When Naso presented some of his family portraits and landscape photos for Dietz’s review, Dietz agreed the photos showed a photographer’s versatility.
Naso said his photos were harmless and merely showed a fetish for lingerie.
The prosecution’s evidence and witnesses’ testimony are intended to present the jury with aggravating factors in favor of the death penalty.
In addition to Dahlquist, Naso’s other “mitigating factor” witness was Sean Stevens, a veterans’ services and benefits officer for the Veterans Administration.
Stevens said Naso served in the Air Force between 1953 and 1957 and suffered a fractured elbow that entitles him to 20 percent disability. Stevens said he has no information the injury was combat related and that Naso received a general discharge under honorable conditions.
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