Bechler called ‘ice man’

Deepa Bharath

SANTA ANA -- Eric Bechler was an “ice man” devoid of any emotion who

murdered his wife during what was supposed to be an anniversary cruise,

the prosecution in the sensational murder case told jurors during closing

arguments Tuesday.

But the defense pointed to a lack of hard physical or physiological

evidence in the case, cautioning the jury to work on the presumption that

the defendant is innocent until proved guilty, as the law states.

Bechler is accused of bludgeoning to death his 38-year-old wife,

Pegye, and dumping her body in the ocean during a boating trip July 6,

1997. Bechler consistently has pleaded not guilty, saying his wife, an

expert swimmer and triathlete, was swept underwater by a wave when she

was driving their rented speedboat as she towed him on a bodyboard.

On Tuesday, Deputy Dist. Atty. Debora Lloyd faced the 14-member jury

and painted a frightening picture of Bechler as a calculating man who had

committed a “willful, deliberate and premeditated killing.

“The evidence shows he has been planning this since March” of 1997,

she said. “He rented the boat, bought the rope, took the Boogie board and

the Baggies” to dump her body.

Throughout the trial, the defense has argued that Bechler made up the

story about murdering his wife to seem like a “bad boy” to win over Tina

New -- the aspiring model and actress he began dating about three months

after his wife’s disappearance. Defense Attorney John Barnett argued that

New had a history of seeking out men such as Dennis Rodman -- “bad boys”

who lived on the edge and who had frequent encounters with the law.

But Lloyd said Bechler had murder in his mind months before he planned

the tragic anniversary cruise. He even mentioned a plan to stuff his wife

in a barrel and dump her in the ocean to his best friend Kobi Laker while

relaxing on the beach after playing volleyball, Laker testified last

month.

“He told Kobi and Tami Laker that Pegye was a bad person,” Lloyd said.

“He told them she was obsessive, selfish, controlling and manipulative,

and they believed him. They felt sorry for him.”

On the day of the trip, Lloyd said, Bechler did everything to relax

his victim.

“He gave her margaritas to drink,” she said. “They had sex. She was

sleepy. She was laying down on the deck in the sun. She was unsuspecting,

trapped. And then, he murders her and dumps her [over] the side.”

In his closing arguments, Barnett asked the jury to look at testimony

by forensic experts called to the stand by the prosecution.

“They said the boat was not wiped down,” he argued. “They found stuff

on the boat that looked like blood but it wasn’t blood. There was no

blood on the boat.”

How could Bechler have wiped up blood if crime scene investigators

found no evidence of human blood or proof of somebody cleaning out the

boat, Barnett asked.

He said the story of Pegye Bechler lying in a pool of blood after

being hit on the head was part of Tina New’s fantasy not fact.

The reason, Lloyd told jurors, was that Bechler took his wife almost

half way to Catalina and not just four to five miles off Newport Beach,

where rescuers found him paddling on his bodyboard, distraught and

screaming for help.

Lloyd called it all a “fake show,” saying that in none of the tapes

jurors saw or heard was Bechler seen actually shedding tears.

“He could not conjure up tears because he could not conjure up the

pain,” she said. “It’s hard to make tears when you don’t have them.”

Barnett argued that it is incorrect to use emotion as a yardstick to

measure guilt in a murder trial.

“There is no barometer for emotion and grieving,” he said.

Barnett said the prosecution could twist anything Bechler did or said

to make him look guilty.

Responding to Lloyd’s statement that Bechler was putting on a fake

show in front of officials, Barnett said Bechler would have done better

if he wanted to “create an appearance.”

“If he were worried about creating an appearance, do you think he’d

fall asleep when people are out looking for his wife?” he asked the jury.

“Don’t you think he’d ask to stay and look till the last dog comes home?”

Barnett said the deputy sheriff who rescued Bechler wrote in her

report that day that Bechler was “dazed, distraught,” that he hoped she

swam ashore and that he wanted to stay back and look for her.

But Lloyd said Bechler was lying when he told police, and jurors this

week, that he and his wife had a strong and happy marriage.

“It’s all black and white,” she said. “His best friends are saying he

was not happy with his wife. Her best friend, Glenda Mason, said Pegye

was seen crying often during those last months.”

Barnett argued that judging a marriage is a subjective issue and that

although the Bechlers argued at work, their colleagues and employees had

testified that it did not disrupt their work. Also, Bechler has had no

history of violence against his wife.

“Not a bruise, not a slap, not a push against Pegye in all those

years,” he pointed out. “Do you think it’s reasonable to believe he’d

pick up a 35-pound dumbbell and beat her to death, the mother of his

three children?”

Barnett is expected to resume his closing arguments today.