Former Friends Testify For Stayner

A parade of former friends took the stand yesterday as character witnesses for Yosemite killer Cary Stayner. They portrayed him as a hard-working and gentle man who got along with everybody. Yesenia Tubbs worked with Stayner in the early 1990´s and dated him for about three months. She says he was “very pleasant and polite” and she never saw him angry. Mya Cole said that in the five-and-a-half years she knew Stayner, she never had reason to fear him. One of the six witnesses said she once became uncomfortable around Stayner when he stopped by a river to go skinny-dipping as he was driving her home from work. Yesterday was the third day defense attorneys produced witnesses they hope will convince a jury to spare Stayner´s life.