PORT ORCHARD — Denise Hoerner tried to hold herself together on the witness stand as she recounted the events surrounding the deaths of her husband and best friend in 1993.
A visibly shaken Hoerner sobbed and hyperventilated as she testified against accused double-murderer Darold Stenson on Tuesday and Wednesday in Kitsap County Superior Court.
Hoerner, one of several key witnesses in Stenson’s ongoing retrial, repeatedly broke down as she recalled the morning of March 25, 1993, when her husband, Frank Hoerner, and best friend Denise Stenson, were found shot to death at Darold Stenson’s exotic-bird farm and residence near Sequim.
In Wednesday’s cross-examination, defense attorney Roger Hunko asked Denise Hoerner what she remembered about her encounter with Stenson on the morning of the murders.
Clallam County sheriff’s deputies had escorted Hoerner to the Kane Lane residence where both victims were found shot.
“They let me hug [Stenson], and I didn’t like it!” Hoerner wailed, prompting Clallam County Judge S. Brooke Taylor to dismiss the jury for one of several recesses during the emotional testimony.
Hoerner, 46, of Sequim, regained her composure and finished the cross-examination by answering Hunko’s questions with: “I don’t recall, sir,” or, “I’m confused. I’m sorry, sir.”
Prosecutors have said Stenson, 60, shot his wife and business partner to collect $400,000 in life insurance and to silence Frank Hoerner, who wanted to recoup the money he had invested with Stenson for ostriches.
Stenson, first convicted in 1994, has long maintained his innocence.
The defense has suggested in court documents that Denise Hoerner should have been considered as an alternate suspect in the murders.
Hoerner testified that her husband paid $50,000 to own exotic birds that the Hoerners never saw.
She added that Stenson promised her husband, a carpet layer who commuted to the Seattle area before dawn every morning, that he would “never have to work again” if he invested in Stenson’s business.
The trial took a twist Tuesday when Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly asked a routine question about Denise Hoerner’s son being adopted by Frank Hoerner.
Denise Hoerner told Kelly that her son was 3 when the couple saw a lawyer “prior to Darold killing Frank.”
Hunko immediately objected to the comment.
Taylor sustained the objection and told the jury to disregard the remark.
When the jury was dismissed at the next recess, Hunko made a motion for a mistrial on the grounds that the comment was prejudicial to his client.
Taylor denied the motion, adding, “Her outburst was unfortunate, to say the least.”
“I did instruct the jury immediately to disregard the comment, which was unsolicited,” Taylor added.
“We have a very attentive jury. I have to assume they will follow my instructions, and I think they’re all aware three weeks into this trial that the comment was on the very issue that they have to decide.”
Denise Hoerner testified that Stenson phoned her house the night before the murders demanding to speak with her husband about signing insurance papers for ostriches they had purchased.
“He yelled at me: ‘You put Frank on the f—ing phone, now!” she yelled.
Frank Hoerner told Stenson that he would stop by on his way to work early the next morning, she said.
Denise Hoerner said she received a phone call at about 7 a.m. from an officer who told her only that Denise Stenson had been shot.
On her way to Stenson’s residence, Hoerner spotted her friend, Becky, standing by the side of the road.
“What were you imagining?” Kelly asked.
“That Frank was killed,” Hoerner replied.
“As soon as I saw her eyes, I knew.”
Hoerner trembled on the witness stand, occasionally glancing to her left where a suit-clad Stenson was seated between his attorneys.
“I don’t like it here,” she said.
Stenson was convicted in 1994 of two counts of first-degree aggravated murder and spent the next 14 years on death row.
The conviction was overturned by the state Supreme Court in May 2012 and remanded back to Clallam County for a new trial.
Due to extensive publicity, Taylor granted a modified change of venue in which he would preside over the case before a Kitsap County jury.
The 12-member, three-alternate jury consists of six women and nine men.
One of the male jurors was dismissed Wednesday because of a financial hardship resulting from the partial shutdown of the federal government.
The juror said he could keep his job as a supervisor at a Navy shipyard if Taylor would release him from jury duty.
Taylor previously had offered to sign letters on behalf of other jurors whose jobs are dependant on the federal government.
The jury was selected Sept. 18. Opening arguments began five days later.
In a Tuesday conference, Kelly told Taylor that she likely would call witnesses for another week and a half.
“I believe we could go into Oct. 15, 16 before I would be able to rest, just given our current rate,” Kelly said.
Hunko reported that his witnesses likely would testify into the second week of November.
“There’s going to be a lot of scientific testimony,” Hunko said. “That’s going to take some time.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.