Woman Convicted in Killing Dies

NORTHRIDGE — Jo Lula Haynes, the snowy-haired grandmother convicted of shooting her former son-in-law to death in Northridge, died of cardiac arrest Sunday--nearly a year after she suffered a stroke days before she was to receive a lengthy prison sentence.

Haynes, who was 76, had been in the jail ward at County-USC Medical Center since February, spending much of her hospitalization on life support.

She had pleaded guilty the previous November to second-degree murder midway through her trial for the Halloween 1993 slaying of Kenneth Lisi, a 43-year-old Walt Disney Co. executive. Under terms of a plea bargain, Haynes could have been sentenced to 19 years in state prison.

At the time of her stroke, Haynes had been attempting to withdraw her guilty plea, which was controversial among her family members. Her lawyer at the time, Deputy Public Defender Michael Duffey, said Haynes had decided to plead guilty rather than place her grandchildren on the witness stand to testify about alleged child abuse and molestation-allegations that were never proved.

Another lawyer hired by some family members later argued that Haynes’ medical condition had interfered with her ability to understand the full impact of what would surely have been a life sentence.

“She was the best mother anybody could have, the best grandmother, the best friend,” said a daughter, Elizabeth Haynes. “Everything I learned about honor, kindness, truth and courage, I owe to her, and I miss her desperately.”

She said her family felt let down by the justice system and “people with an agenda.”

Lisi, who was embroiled in a bitter divorce with Haynes’ daughter, Pamela, was shot outside the family’s house while picking up his daughters, then ages 4 and 11.

Ernie and Fay Lisi testified they watched in horror as Haynes fired three shots into their son, who just 10 days earlier had won custody of his daughters and moved them to Lancaster.

For the Lisi family, Haynes’ death offered relief and a sense of closure after a year of “living in limbo,” as Fay Lisi described it.

“We’ve been in a dark place for such a long time,” she said. “Now the light is beginning to shine at the end of the tunnel.”

Her husband, Ernie Lisi, said he has spent the past year in agony, “sitting on the edge of my seat,” waking up several times a night wondering why Haynes had killed his son.

“She’s gone. Thank God for that,” he added. “Whether this is going to make any difference in how we live our life, I don’t know. I hope she lives in purgatory for a long time. I’ve been there since Oct. 31, 1993.”