Posted on 08/17/2006 3:33:41 PM PDT by SmithL
MARTINEZ - Scott Dyleski was engaged in school, polite in class and his artwork that included gloomy portrayals of emaciated figures, sometimes bleeding, was normal, his former teacher testified Thursday in the teenager's murder trial.
"(The artwork is) very much mainstream," said Acalanes High School graphic design teacher Susan Lane. "I'm very accustomed to seeing this kind of artwork."
Lane was one of six witnesses who breezed through the courtroom in two hours on the first day Dyleski's defense attorney presented his case. Jurors sat back with pens and papers in hand, but took few notes as teachers, a coach and a friend all said the teenager treated people with courtesy and respect.
Prosecutors say Dyleski, 17, killed Lafayette resident Pamela Vitale on Oct. 15, 2005, as part of a scheme to steal financial information from neighbors and purchase marijuana-growing equipment.
He is charged with murder and burglary. His attorney, deputy public defender Ellen Leonida, has said he was home at the time of the killing.
Jurors saw examples of his artwork on Monday, as the prosecutor tried to portray Dyleski as a teenager obsessed with thoughts of killing people.
Lane flipped through sketches and paintings on the witness stand. She said his artwork was not disturbing and that she has seen art from other students expressing more violent themes.
She said she does not judge the subject matter.
"If a student is obsessed with Brittany Spears, I find that just as offensive as Marilyn Manson," she said.
Dyleski worked well with other players on his high school ultimate frisbee team, his coach said.
"Was he ever violent?" asked deputy public defender Ellen Leonida.
"Certainly not," said Acalanes High School coach Joanna Tams. "In fact 'peaceful' is one of the first things that comes to mind."
Tams said Dyleski used a calm attitude and respect to handle conflicts during games.
"He's a very good role model with conflict," Tams said.
The defendant's father, Kenneth Dyleski, gently nodded his head in the front row, an arm's distance behind his son.
On cross-examination, she said Dyleski was athletic and cool under pressure, helping deputy district attorney Harold Jewett portray to the jury that a small teenager is strong enough to kill and can hide his feelings.
A 15-year-old friend, Rebecca Gray, said she never saw the defendant frustrated or angry. He acted like an older brother to her friends.
She and her sister occasionally made jokes about eating babies, she said. A video game inspired their jest.
Dyleski's former girlfriend had testified last week that she and Dyleski used to joke about torturing children.
Gray's mother, Cherryl Ann Gray, characterized Dyleski as polite and engaged in music and poetry.
She said she heard her daughters and their friends joke about eating and torturing children. The conversations concerned her the first time she heard them, but she soon realized the comments were not malicious.
"That boy looks nice and fat," Gray said, recalling conversations among the teenagers who came to her house. "He looks like a good dinner."
Contra Costa County Sheriff's detective Rachell Fawell testified as a defense witness that Kim Curiel, one of the owners of Dyleski's home, told her Oct. 20, 2005, that Dyleski walked into their house about 9:30 a.m. on the morning of Vitale's death.
Curiel told her he had puncture wounds on his face and said he ran into a bush, she said.
The time of Dyleski's arrival the morning of Vitale's killing gets to the heart of the defense's case. Prosecutors estimate Vitale was attacked at 10:12 a.m.
"(Curiel) added she wasn't sure on the time," Fawell testified, under Jewett's cross-examination, dealing a blow to the defense.
Kim Curiel testified in court last week that Dyleski arrived home about 10:45 a.m.
Testimony continues Monday at 10 a.m. Judge Barbara Zuniga told the jury she expects
the attorneys to give their closing arguments Tuesday.
No doubt, considering that a good portion of the publicly schooled kids in California are morally depraved drug addicts.
Peaceful?
Yeah, like the "Party of Peace" or the "Religion of Peace", I guess.
Thanks. I've missed a couple of days in this while tracking all the BS in the new JonBenet case plot twist.
So, they called a witness - and her *mother* - into court just to talk about eating babies? Pulleez. *rolling eyes big time*
All this peaceful, laid-back, relaxed, downer talk about Dyleski just goes to show what happens when everything is sublimated behind a mask put on for others. *KABOOM*
Poor Pamela, who had nothing whatsoever to do with this kid's perverted life, paid the ultimate price for it. So sad.
I'll try to catch up before Monday's court session.
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