Mother Says Famalaro Never Got Aid He Needed

SANTA ANA — Testifying in defense of her son, the mother of convicted murderer John J. Famalaro used the witness stand Monday to rail against sexual permissiveness and expound on Christianity, politics and the state of the world.

“I am up here brokenhearted in every way, and I know that pornography is the reason,” Anne Famalaro said during the second day of the penalty phase of her son’s murder trial.

The 71-year-old Arizona resident and devout Catholic also spoke candidly about her troubles with her three children, at times showing flashes of anger or exasperation with the questions asked by attorneys.

“You’re really trying to make me look like a fool,” she said to Deputy Public Defender Denise Gragg at one point.

When speaking of her youngest son, who was convicted last month of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering 23-year-old Denise Huber, Anne Famalaro said he “just didn’t seem right” as he was growing up. She said that although he was very nervous and sullen as a child, she never sought professional help for him.

“I’m sorry to say, I didn’t think, period,” she said. “I was just so busy . . . just trying to raise three kids. I guess like Scarlett O’Hara, I’d take care of it tomorrow and I never did--obviously.”

The mother discussed raising her children with her husband, Angelo Famalaro, in Santa Ana where she was active politically and once ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the City Council. She often hosted hundreds of people for speeches on religious or political topics and organized protests against abortion and an adult movie theater in the city.

“I just thought they should be good,” she said of her children, who attended Catholic schools. “I tried to be good. I tried to lead them to do the right thing. I tried to teach them to be courteous to everyone. I wanted to be a good family. I did everything to show the world that we were a good family.”

Anne Famalaro is the first family member to testify for the defense. Later this week, the defendant’s sister, Marion Thobe, and brother, Warren Famalaro, a chiropractor who was once convicted of child molestation, will take the stand.

Deputy Public Defender Leonard Gumlia said outside court that the family’s testimony will “ultimately show how influences as a child would influence [Famalaro] as an adult.” Gumlia said it is “no coincidence” that both sons have had serious problems as adults.

Gragg asked the mother about how she raised her children, suggesting through her questioning that she did not do laundry often or have the children bathe regularly, but that when they did have baths, she scrubbed their genitals especially hard and washed them with hot water.

“I can’t believe this. Of course not,” she said. “I did whatever I was supposed to do as a mother.”

She did admit telling her sons that masturbation would make them go crazy and to always keep a 30-day emergency supply of food on hand, but she denied it was in fear of some kind of invasion, as suggested by Gragg.

The mother admitted that she once followed son Warren out on a date by hiding in the backseat of the car he was driving. In a later incident, she confronted him and a woman he had taken to a motel room to commit “free-loving,” the mother’s term for premarital sex. Once inside the room, she said she smashed a clock and the police were called.

“I went to the motel and I walked in the room,” she said. “I might not have caught him the night I went in the car, but there they were.”

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When her only daughter went away to college in Iowa, the mother was fearful of bad influences and went along, moving into an apartment with her. The daughter moved out after six months and got married a year later.

“I got very captivated by my children,” the mother said. “As I look back now, I was overly absorbed by them. You don’t save anybody’s soul. The person has to save their own soul.”

But she denied reports that she had once shielded the eyes of her son, John, during a kissing scene at a movie.

“I’m bats, but I’m not that bats,” she said.

She did admit that at times she would ignore the children when she was angry with them.

“I thought it was better than some of the other things I could have done,” she said. “In other words, let’s not fraternize this goody-goody thing we have going and every night holding one another, going to the bedroom saying, ‘I love you mommy. I love you mommy.’ I felt, baloney. You love me, this is what you do?”

She said her effort to shield her children from “the world” worked well until they became teenagers.

“I found out that the hormones kick in and Mom becomes irrelevant,” she said.

Until problems developed when they were older, Anne Famalaro said she thought she had raised the model family.

“I was good friends with all the children, buddies,” she said. “America’s super family.”

She also discussed her son’s relationship with a woman named Ruth, who became pregnant with John Famalaro’s child. When he told his mother about it, she said she tried to keep from exploding “because this wasn’t a part of our scheme of things.” When Ruth decided to give the baby up for adoption, she said her son was destroyed and went to court to try to stop the adoption.

“This is the story that changed his life,” the mother said. “He was never decent again after that. He was muddled, he was confused. He’s always thinking where is this baby, and where is Ruth? It was just never was the same. It was over after that.”