Johnny Bruno - The murder of 24-year-old Pamela Bruno.

The case which follows contains such gruesome and cold-blooded elements that it has been described by many people, including Lane County District Attorney Pat Horton, as "unparalleled" in the history of Lane County crime. And justly so, for during the course of the investigation, homicide detectives uncovered shocking, horrifying details of a sordid, sadomasochistic sex orgy that led, ultimately, to the stabbing and dismemberment of an unwilling participant.

This bizarre story opens in the college city of Eugene, Oregon at approximately 12:30 on the morning of February 24, 1978 when two human scavengers were rummaging through one of the dumpsters of a west side shopping center in a search for cardboard. They found plenty of what they were looking for, the intended use of which was known only to them. However, as the couple dug deeper into the trash bin, one of them came across a plastic bag that apparently warranted further investigation.

The bag must have weighed at least 25 to 30 pounds or more, but it was easy to pull free. They had it lifted out of the bin and onto the pavement in no time at all, anxiously tearing open the bag to examine their "find."

At first glance, the contents of the bag simply appeared to be a couple of chunks of discarded meat, one small piece and one large piece, probably spoiled and thrown out a couple of days before from the meat department of the adjacent grocery store. However, upon closer examination, the cold, rancid smelling meat suddenly looked frighteningly familiar, almost human!

While examining the large piece of meat, one of the rummagers noted there was very little blood, about as much as would be present in butchered, prepared beef. Although the smell of the meat was nearly intolerable, the men's curiosity compelled them to examine the smaller piece. Although the smaller piece was nearly unrecognizable, it faintly resembled a severed, mutilated female breast!

Sick and retching from revulsion, the man threw the meat to the pavement and vomited. Following a few moments of illness and nausea, the two regained some of their composure and rushed to the nearest telephone and called the Eugene Police Department, informing the cops of the wretched discovery.

Due to the lateness of the hour, not to mention the seriousness of the trash bin discovery, the police dispatcher who took the call knew he would have to wake up someone with higher authority. He chose to wake up Lt. Don Lonneker, detective division commander.

When Lt. Lonneker and the first police units arrived, officers immediately cordoned off the area to hold back the curious onlookers and the graveyard shift of press members in an attempt to preserve any bits of evidence that might be present.

After the area had been completely sealed off, police detectives took statements from the two midnight rummagers regarding the events that led to the discovery of the two pieces of meat.

The police personnel set up lights and began going through other trash bins and garbage cans in search of still more body parts, but when it was evident there was nothing more of any significance to be found, the two pieces of meat were wrapped up and sent off to the medical examiner's office.

In the meantime, the Eugene Police Department launched a massive search effort of other garbage dumpsters and cans in the vicinity of the west side supermarket where the alleged body parts were discovered. Unfortunately, their efforts were futile.

A few days later Dr. Ed Wilson, deputy Lane County medical examiner, reported that tests had determined that the larger piece of meat was that of a female thigh, which had been severed just above the knee and from the groin to the waist, and that the smaller piece was a female breast, ravaged by so many human teeth marks that it was nearly indistinguishable as a human anatomical part! Dr. Wilson reported that further tests were being conducted in an attempt to identify the victim's blood type.

Meanwhile, police detectives began checking their female missing person's files, singling out two young women who were reported missing at approximately the time the body parts were discovered in the shopping center dumpster.

The cops considered Elizabeth Green as the most likely victim, although no hard evidence had been found linking the 24-year-old mother to the mysterious and gruesome thigh and breast. Mrs. Green was described by friends and relatives as a dependable and a devoted mother, and was reportedly to have picked up her infant daughter at the hospital on the day of her disappearance.

According to hospital officials, Mrs. Green arrived at the hospital on the day in question at approximately 11:00 a.m., and she nursed her baby that had been born five weeks prematurely. She was last seen by a parking lot attendant as she drove away from Eugene's Sacred Heart General Hospital shortly after 11:00 a.m., and her car and purse were found the next day in separate parking lots in the 1400 and 1500 blocks of Franklin Boulevard.

Pamela Lee Bruno, 24, was another woman the cops added to their list of possible victims. Mrs. Bruno, a childless housewife, was described as white, 5 feet 8 inches tall, and approximately 165 pounds. She had blonde shoulder-length hair and hazel eyes. She lived with her husband in the 4600 block of Main Street in nearby Springfield in one of several run-down, almost uninhabitable, apartments.

According to Springfield Police Chief Brian Riley, Mrs. Bruno was last seen by her husband, Johnny, at their apartment on February 16th. According to Riley, she was wearing a short brown plaid coat, blue jeans, and brown shoes. She did not own a car, and relied on hitchhiking and taxicabs for her transportation. Considered by many to be a heavy drinker, Mrs. Bruno was known to frequent the local bars and taverns.

According to Mrs. Bruno's husband, Pamela was gone when he awoke on the morning of February 17th. However, he didn't report her as missing until February 22nd.

"This has happened several times in the past, according to Mr. Bruno," said Chief Riley. "It's not unusual for her to be gone this long." According to Chief Riley, Mrs. Bruno was reported missing eight or nine times in recent years. But, he said, her most recent disappearance was different and unusual because none of her friends or relatives had heard from her for over two weeks, and she was never gone for more than two or three days at a time.

In the meantime, with only the thigh and the breast to work with, forensic scientists from the Oregon State Police Crime Labs in Eugene and experts from the University of Oregon were able to determine, by studying the bones, that the victim was a young woman between 18 to 30 years of age, and that she was of medium weight, approximately 140 to 160 pounds. They also determined that the blood type found in the severed parts was not of the same type as Mrs. Green, thus eliminating her as the possible victim.

However, the scientists were continuing to work round the clock in an attempt to connect the severed body parts with Mrs. Bruno. But unless they could locate some kind of official record listing her blood type, little progress in linking the parts was unlikely. The scientists did say, however, that the description they arrived at fit more accurately with Mrs. Bruno than with Mrs. Green or any other woman who was reported missing at that time.

The technique the scientists used to confirm that the thigh came from a woman was relatively simple. They merely examined tissue samples under a microscope in search of "Barr bodies," which, in simplest terms, are tiny specks or dots appearing in the nucleus of a cell that are present in females but not in males.

The detectives turned to the help of an anthropologist specializing in bone structures to help narrow down the age gap of the victim. The techniques involved were far more complicated than those used in determining whether or not the victim was male or female. They had to make estimations and calculations based on measurements of the length and diameter of the thigh bone and compare their findings with statistical tables and graphs. But when their tests were completed, they determined that the victim was between 25 and 30 years of age.

"We're taking a further interest in Springfield's missing woman," said Lt. Don Lonneker, detective division commander, after conferring with other detectives from several local law-enforcement agencies.

In the meantime, Springfield police stepped up their efforts in their search for Mrs. Bruno, and checked further into the backgrounds of the missing woman and her husband.

The cops soon discovered that the Brunos had lived in the Springfield area for about three years, having moved there from Vancouver, Washington. They were married for seven years, but had no children.

Digging still further into their backgrounds, police detectives soon discovered that Johnny Bruno was convicted in Vancouver for driving while under the influence of intoxicants and for hit and run, and that both he and his wife were convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

According to the Bruno's former probation officer, the latter charge was a result of an incident in which Mrs. Bruno invited two 15-year-old girls into their apartment and gave them alcoholic beverages, then proceeded to have explicit sexual intercourse with her husband as the two girls excitedly looked on! Johnny Bruno then had intercourse with one, possibly both, of the young girls during the incident after arousing their prurient interests.

Meanwhile, police divers searched the area near the university and the parking lots where Mrs. Green's car and purse were found, but they found nothing to help them locate the missing woman. According to Lt. Lonneker, however, divers did find a rusty knife in the water, but denied that it had any significance to the severed thigh and breast case. "It unquestionably has no bearing on our investigation," he said.

Lonneker did say, however, that the severed thigh "appears to have been cut with a knife." He also said that he had temporarily suspended the search for additional anatomical parts and other physical evidence connected with the murder and missing person's cases after a week of exhaustive efforts. "We've simply run out of places and directions to go," he said.

In the meantime, on February 28th, detectives went to the Bruno's cottage in Springfield to obtain hair samples from Mrs. Bruno's hair brush, and they attempted to find out what her blood type was by conferring with her husband. But he simply repeated that he didn't know her blood type, and all that detectives left with were a few strands of long blonde hair and the frustration of knowing that it was likely to be some time yet before positive identification of the severed thigh and breast could be made.

According to Dr. Ed Wilson, deputy Lane County medical examiner, investigators knew that the female victim had not been dead for long, unless the thigh and breast had been preserved by freezing, which they seriously doubted. He also said they could only retrieve a small blood sample from the body parts, but stressed that it would be enough for the Oregon State Police Crime Labs to establish the victim's blood type, the results of which would soon be known.

If the scientists could have obtained more blood, said Wilson, they would have attempted to measure the amount of prolactin (a hormone) in the blood and could possibly have determined whether or not the victim had been nursing a child, a clue that could have been of vital importance to an investigation of this nature. But considering the small amount of blood they had to work with, the blood type identification was the best they could hope for.

The first real breakthrough in the case came when detectives finally learned Mrs. Bruno's blood type through her medical records in Vancouver, Washington, which they wouldn't release to the press. And almost as soon as they had discovered the missing woman's blood type, the Oregon State Police Crime Labs reported to detectives that their samples were of the same blood type as Mrs. Bruno's type.

Considering that detectives now knew that the victim was a female Caucasian, 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 7 inches in height, and that she weighed approximately 140 to 160 pounds, they now felt Pamela Bruno might be the victim that had been so savagely butchered.

A short time later, Springfield police Detective Don Bond paid a visit to the Bruno apartment. He told Mrs. Bruno's husband that it was likely his wife was dead, and that it was now believed that the thigh and breast were parts severed from his wife's body, although they were not one hundred percent certain Mrs. Bruno was the victim. While Detective Bond was relating the details to Mr. Bruno, Bruno's dog came barking into the room, at which time Bruno became irritated and angry with the animal.

"I've got to get rid of that damn dog, too," Bruno remarked to Bond. It was at that precise moment that Bond began to suspect that Bruno killed his wife, although he didn't immediately acknowledge Bruno's apparent Freudian slip of the tongue. Instead, he acted as if he hadn't noticed and asked Bruno to visualize the severed thigh found in the trash bin. Astonishingly, Bruno described to Detective Bond precisely how the thigh had been severed!

The investigation continued, and finally, on March 10, the severed thigh and breast were positively identified through laboratory analysis as being parts of what was once Pamela Lee Bruno.

With this sudden new development, police went to the Bruno apartment with search and arrest warrants, but in spite of their efforts they could find no traces of blood or other physical evidence that would indicate the murder occurred inside the Bruno's residence.

Police arrested Johnny Charles Bruno just the same, and took him to Springfield Police Headquarters for further questioning. Bruno was cooperative for the most part, and seemed to want to help the police. On a "cop's hunch," Detective Bond told Bruno that they thought someone else was also involved in the grisly murder.

"Well, you know, don't you?" Bruno told the cops. He then broke down and cried, making a full confession of how his wife was repeatedly stabbed and dismembered, and implicated one of his friends and co-workers, Charles Haynes, 31, and Haynes' wife, Lionetti Anita, also 31. The two men worked together for nearly three years as tree planters for a local firm, and Mrs. Bruno and Mrs. Haynes were known to associate with each other when the Brunos would visit the Hayneses.

On Saturday, March 11th, police went to the Haynes' rented house in Eugene, located in the 800 block of West Fifth Avenue, a poor area of town, and arrested Charles Leroy Haynes. The next day, when Mrs. Haynes appeared at Springfield Police Headquarters, she too was arrested.

All three suspects were accused of "acting in concert" with each other when the stabbing of Mrs. Bruno occurred, which police alleged was on or about February 21st, and each allegedly participated in the subsequent ritualistic dismembering of the victim's arms, legs, breasts, and head.

District Attorney Pat Horton would only describe the murder weapon as a "stabbing instrument." "There is a certain uniqueness in this case which I think is unparalleled in Lane County," said Horton. Springfield Police Chief Brian Riley stated he couldn't remember a murder case as gruesome, and went on to praise the cooperative efforts of the Springfield and Eugene Police Departments.

"I've seen a lot of investigations of crimes involving more than one jurisdiction done in other places," said Eugene Police Chief Pierce Brooks, a former detective division commander at the Los Angeles Police Department. "But I've never seen it done as effectively as here."

In the meantime, Lane County District Court Judge Gregory Foote ordered the suspects held without bail at the Springfield city jail, where they would be appointed attorneys by the court.

Police now alleged that Pamela Bruno was killed and "slaughtered" at the Haynes' residence in Eugene, and Chief Brooks sent crime lab supervisor Mary Ann Vaughn to the house to investigate.

Wearing an oxygen mask and tank inside the house, Ms. Vaughn used special chemicals that emit toxic fumes to search for "trace evidence" in each of the rooms of the house. Brooks said they were looking for evidence "so minute that it might not be visible to the naked eye."

However, District Attorney Horton and police officials refused to comment further on the case, saying only that a Lane County grand jury would be asked to indict the three suspects. When asked whether additional body parts had been found, Horton replied, "To my knowledge, (additional) body parts have not been found."

On Thursday, March 16th, a Lane County grand jury returned murder indictments against Johnny Charles Bruno, Charles Leroy Haynes, and his wife, Lionetti Anita Haynes. The three suspects were transferred to the Lane County Jail in Eugene, where they were held without bail.

As the weeks passed and turned into months, detectives continued their investigation of the butcher-murder of Pamela Lee Bruno, but chose to remain tight-lipped about their results, preferring to save the details for the soon-to-begin trials.

It was Tuesday, May 23, 1978, and the Lane County Circuit Court of Judge Roland Rodman was filled to capacity, with hopeful spectators being turned away. Johnny Charles Bruno was the first to go on trial for the brutal slaying and butchering of his wife, a trial that the people of Eugene and Springfield would not soon forget. Inside the courtroom, opening arguments were being heard.

Deputy District Attorney Brian Barnes' opening statement was a recounting of the events of the February 24th discovery of the severed thigh and breast, a synopsis of the investigation leading to the arrests of the three suspects, and details of Bruno's confession.

"At the end of this case," said defense attorney Harry Carp, "no matter what evidence the state presents, you're not going to have a pretty picture. You're going to be looking at a charnel house."

"I suggest to you it was more than a charnel house," countered Prosecutor Barnes, "which, as I understand it, is a place where dead bodies and bones are deposited. It was more like a slaughter house, an unparalleled ritualistic killing involving blood, guts, and gore. It's something you will not easily forget."

It was noted that Carp had filed notice of intent to argue his client's defense of extreme emotional disturbance or mental defect which, under Oregon status, is the same as an insanity plea. However, he reserved the right to change his defense theory if necessary.

When Prosecutor Barnes described how Mrs. Bruno's body had allegedly been strung up over the bathtub in the Haynes' residence and "disemboweled and butchered like an animal," Mrs. Bruno's mother, grandmother, and aunt all left the courtroom hurriedly.

To visualize how a loved one had been drained of her blood, and had her entrails scraped out into a cold porcelain bathtub, then to hear details of the grisly dismemberment, was understandably more than a relative of the deceased could bear.

In his statements, Barnes said the state would prove that Mrs. Bruno's death was caused intentionally by her husband and Mr. and Mrs. Haynes during an evening of alcohol, marijuana, and group sex which included sadomasochistic acts.

Dr. David Myers, assistant Lane County medical examiner who examined the tissue of the thigh and breast, told the court that the breast was so mutilated by human teeth marks that he could not immediately recognize it. He also told the court that the body parts had almost no blood, leading him to believe that Mrs. Bruno's body had been drained of blood through a cut or a wound caused by the woman's killers.

The feeling in the courtroom was cold and dismal in a psychological sense rather than physical. It was generally felt that in order for Mrs. Bruno's body to have been so completely drained of blood, her killers would have had to have her strung up over the bathtub for quite some time, a clear indication that her killers were in no hurry to get rid of the body, and that they might well have even enjoyed the ritualistic killing and subsequent hacking up of the victim's corpse.

On the third day of Bruno's murder trial, a packed courtroom of curious spectators and a shocked jury listened intently as a taped statement Bruno made to police was played.

In the taped statement Bruno made while being interviewed by Springfield police detective Donald Bond, Bruno described how he and his wife Pamela hitchhiked into Eugene and arrived at the Haynes' home about 8:00 p.m. Bruno said that after some heavy drinking (he was known to down a six-pack of beer in less than 20 minutes) and pot smoking, Charles Haynes and the Brunos decided to have a session of group sex.

According to the tape, Pamela Bruno had agreed at first to participate in group sex with her husband and the Hayneses. "Pam agreed at first," said Bruno on tape, "then she didn't, so we took her in the other room and tied her up." He also stated on the tape that he bit one of his wife's breasts so hard that he took off part of the nipple.

He also stated on the tape that Mrs. Haynes was the first one to stab the victim because she was enraged when she saw her husband having sex with Mrs. Bruno. He further stated that Charles Haynes stabbed the victim several times after Mrs. Haynes passed him the knife, and that he (Bruno) stabbed his wife only once.

Bruno said he stabbed his wife in the chest after Charles Haynes passed him the knife, but "not very far 'cause I was so weak and leaning against the wall and everything. I couldn't believe this was happening."

"Haynes stabbed her quite a few times," Bruno's taped voice said, repeating that he stabbed his wife only once. "I don't even think I got into her far enough because I was so weak at that point and so scared." The tape continued, and the defendant's voice told the details of what occurred after the stabbing.

"Chuck (Haynes) says," according to the tape," We gotta do something about this now. We're gonna have to cut her up,' he says." Bruno then described how he helped Haynes drag Pamela into the bathroom, occasionally breaking down and crying as he told the horrible details — the blood, the torn flesh.

According to the tape, once they had the victim's body over the bathtub, her blood was drained. Later, the Hayneses and Bruno allegedly cut up Mrs. Bruno's body with a butcher knife, placing the severed parts into several plastic garbage bags. They then drove away with the packaged parts, according to the taped testimony, and deposited the parts in trash containers around various areas of Eugene. However, the only body parts that had been recovered by the police were the breast and thigh found on February 4th.

When asked by Detective Bond in the taped interview if he knew what he was doing on the night of the murder, Bruno replied he did know right from wrong at the time. Bruno's attorney had been trying to show Bruno was too drunk on the night of the murder to form the specific intent to commit murder.

When asked "if this act of sex and violence" would have taken place had there been additional people present Bruno answered, "I would have gotten some help. I would not have been so scared to be alone with him (Haynes)." In yet another statement, Bruno made the implication that Haynes had ordered him to participate in the killing and savage butchery.

Warren Reid, a neighbor of Bruno, took the witness stand and testified that the Brunos fought regularly. He testified that Bruno had attempted to throw his wife in front of an oncoming car, and that he saw Bruno kick Pamela in the back of her head while he was wearing his work boots.

Reid also told the court that Mrs. Bruno would very often insult her husband in front of others, telling all about her sexual activities with other men.

"He would sit back and take it for a long time," said Reid. "But then he would become violent with her, and she would fight back." He further stated that the Brunos were drunk or becoming drunk every time he was with them, and that they fought in his presence almost every time he visited with them.

As Reid continued his testimony, he said that after Pamela's disappearance Bruno told him "he knew Pam wasn't going to return," and said that Bruno asked him at least two or three times "if I (Reid) was able to kill someone." According to Reid, Bruno often talked about killing and death in relation to Bruno's army experiences in Vietnam, where he received a Bronze Star for bravery before being reduced from the rank of specialist 4 to private for leaving his guard duty post to see his wife.

On the seventh day of Bruno's trial, the defense called Portland psychiatrist Dr. Barry Maletzky to testify that Bruno "blacked out" on the night of the murder. Maletzky, an expert on alcohol's effects on the brain, testified that Bruno appeared to remember very little about what occurred on the night of his wife's murder, and that his apparent lack of memory was caused by alcohol.

"In a blackout," said Maletzky, "a person is not processing and retaining information in a normal way." He also said Bruno didn't forget or repress what happened the night his wife was killed, but that memories were never formed in his brain in the first place due to alcoholic blackout.

It was clear that the purpose of the defense was to show that Bruno didn't intentionally commit murder, even though he admitted to the police that he was involved. It is necessary to point out at this stage of the trial that even if the jury accepts the arguments of no intent, Bruno could still be convicted of felony murder which, according to legal statutes, "is a murder committed in the course of another felony such as rape or sodomy."

"I think Pamela was a big part of Mr. Bruno's life," continued Maletzky, "and he would not have planned to murder her. John is not a leader. He's not a strong person. It's absolutely inconceivable to me that he could plan such a crime." He went on to say that Bruno was constantly struggling to be accepted by others, and he always wanted to be accepted in a group.

"I think if people suggested things for him to do," testified Dr. Maletzky, "he would go along.

Under the influence of alcohol, he would have gone along with anything...just to be accepted."

Several other defense witnesses also took the stand and testified that Mrs. Bruno was a very promiscuous woman, and that she drank heavily. And according to Daniel Olsen, a volunteer for the Eastside Baptist Church in Springfield, Mrs. Bruno jeered at her husband when he attempted to become a Christian in the spring of 1977.

Olsen testified that he went to the Bruno's apartment after Bruno called the church seeking to "accept the Lord," but when he arrived Bruno was drunk. Olsen said he told Bruno to wait until the next night because he should be sober for the religious experience.

But when Olsen returned to the Bruno residence the following night, he testified, Bruno wasn't home yet so he sat and talked with Mrs. Bruno, who "indicated to me she was too far gone to be saved," and further stated that Mrs. Bruno started bragging about her numerous affairs with other men.

Another defense witness, Philip Wright, who was an attendant at the service station near the Haynes' home in Eugene, testified that he observed Mrs. Bruno walking down the middle of Sixth Avenue about 3 a.m. on a morning in Mid-February. Wright testified that he called her off the street because she appeared to be intoxicated. When she walked over to the station, she asked to use the women's room. But when he told her the station had no restrooms, she dropped her pants and squatted, and urinated on the ground in front of him.

In a rebuttal to the defense contention that Bruno blacked out on the night of the murder, the prosecution presented Medford psychiatrist Dr. Hugh Gardener, who testified that Bruno couldn't have possibly blacked out the night his wife was killed because he "indicated in several ways that he remembered his role in what happened that night.

"Bruno had sufficient understanding of what was going on around him to form an intent to kill his wife that night," continued Gardener. "He's an amoral, selfish, sociopath who is quite capable of using anybody for anything to satisfy himself."

June Lerner of Newport, Mrs. Bruno's grandmother, was called to the stand as a witness for the prosecution. She testified that Bruno called her on February 24th.

"He wondered if Joan (Mrs. Bruno's mother, also of Newport) and I could take this and if we were ready for it," said Mrs. Lerner. "I asked him what he meant," she continued, "and he said there had been a stabbing. I asked what he meant, and he said 'forget it,' and hung up."

Nearing the end of the trial, John and Rose Martin both testified that they were living at the Haynes' home and were, in fact, sleeping in the next room on the night Mrs. Bruno was allegedly killed! They astonishingly reported that they heard nothing unusual. However, both the defense and the prosecution agreed during the trial that the Martins were deceptive in their answers when they were questioned during a lie detector test about whether or not they were involved in the killing, a clear indication that both defense and prosecution felt their testimony in court was questionable.

After closing arguments were orated by the prosecution and the defense, which took most of the last day of the three-week trial, all that could be agreed upon was the uncertainty of whether they would ever know the full story of what happened on the night of February 21st.

"We don't know yet whether we have the full story of what took place that night in the Haynes' house," Barnes told the jury only minutes before they were charged with their obligations and went into deliberations.

Although it seemed longer, the Lane County Circuit Court jury of five men and seven women found Johnny Charles Bruno guilty of felony murder after barely three hours of deliberations, because they decided that his wife's death occurred during the course of a sexual assault.

In the meantime, while Bruno was awaiting sentencing for his conviction, Charles Haynes' trial date was fast approaching. It was June 13th, only one day before his trial was to begin that Haynes surprisingly waived his right to a jury trial and was swiftly convicted by Judge William Beckett in a "trial by stipulated facts." Judge Beckett immediately sentenced Haynes to life in prison.

It should be pointed out that in his agreement to a trial by stipulated facts, Haynes did not plead guilty to the crime of which he was charged, but simply admitted that the state had enough evidence to convict him. In such an agreement, the defendant retains the right to appeal the verdict. If he had pleaded guilty, he would not have had the right to appeal for there would not have been a verdict delivered.

Jack Billings, Haynes' attorney, stated that his client would appeal the verdict on the grounds that a portion of the state's evidence was "improperly admitted" in the case by a ruling of circuit Judge Douglas Spencer. According to Billings, Spencer ruled on May 18th that statements made by Haynes to the Springfield police about his role in the killing would be admissible in Haynes' trial.

However, Judge Spencer rejected Billings' argument that Haynes' statements were inadmissible as evidence. Billings had argued that Haynes' rights were violated because Springfield police allegedly refused to let the defendant talk to a lawyer hired by Haynes' family. But the court ruled the statements as admissible because Haynes had not hired the attorney in question himself, and furthermore had no knowledge that an attorney had, in fact, been retained. The attorney in question had been retained and dismissed within only a few hours, supposedly because Haynes' family decided they couldn't afford the cost.

In the meantime, Mrs. Haynes was still being held in Lane County Jail awaiting trial. Her trial was postponed four times, and she was denied bail three times. By November, 1980, it was beginning to look like she may not go to trial at all, due mainly to the fact that she had remained incarcerated since her arrest in March 1978.

The Oregon Supreme Court heard oral arguments concerning that very issue from Mrs. Haynes' attorney, who pleaded with the court to set his client free because he contended that she had been denied a speedy trial.

But the Supreme Court denied the requests, ordering Mrs. Haynes to remain in jail. But the court said "that any further postponement of her trial will no longer be 'trial within a reasonable period of time.' "The court stated that charges against her would have to be dropped if she could not be tried or released on bail.

Meanwhile, the Oregon Supreme Court reversed Charles Haynes' conviction on the grounds that Springfield police kept him from seeing an attorney, a charge that Springfield police repeatedly denied. Nonetheless, a new trial with a change of venue was ordered, this time to be held in Salem.

Johnny Bruno and Lionetti Haynes were not so lucky. Bruno's conviction was upheld after his appeal, and he is currently serving a life sentence. Mrs. Haynes was finally brought to trial and convicted of first-degree manslaughter following a trial in which she vehemently maintained her innocence. She was sentenced to 20 years by Judge William Beckett, but the judge ruled that Mrs. Haynes be given credit for the time she spent in Lane County Jail awaiting trial.

In May, 1981, Charles Haynes received his new trial in Marion County, but was convicted after a two-week proceeding and was sentenced to life in prison.

Haynes and his wife appealed, but on March 18, 1982, the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld their convictions. More than four years after the gruesome murder of Pamela Lee Bruno, her convicted killers' cases were now fully adjudicated, and all are serving their sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary and the Oregon Correctional Institution for Women.

Editor's Note:

The names Warren Reid: Daniel Olsen, Philip Wright, June Lerner, John and Rose Martin, and Elizabeth Green are fictitious and were used because there is no reason for public interest in these persons.