Dee Ann Warner: Judge Decides What is Admissible in Murder Trial

Dee Ann Warner. Photo courtesy of Parker Hardy.

Dale Warner appeared in Lenawee County Circuit Court via Zoom for a motion hearing this morning. Dale was charged with open murder of his wife and tampering with evidence in November 2023. In August 2024, Dee Warner’s body was found in an anhydrous ammonia tank on land owned by the Warners. Dale currently resides in Lenawee County Jail on a $15M bond awaiting his trial which is expected to begin at the end of January.

The defense had several motions. First, Ms. Chartier requested additional peremptory challenges. A peremptory challenge gives attorneys the opportunity to dismiss a potential juror without giving a reason. Since Dale faces the possibility of a life sentence, the court initially allotted 12 peremptory challenges to the prosecution and the defense.

Ms. Chartier argued more peremptory challenges were needed in this case because of, “the significant media coverage, as well as the significant community opinion that appears to exist, on a large part, to Dale’s detriment.”

She also voiced concern about the possibility of a “stealth juror” which is someone who attempts to get on the jury by pretending to be impartial, but actually has strong feelings and wants to sway the verdict.

She said she was wary of people saying all the right things just to get on the jury and that with only 12 peremptory challenges, “we cannot protect Mr. Warner’s constitutional rights.”

Judge Olsaver acknowledged the huge amount of media and social media attention this case has garnered. Therefore, the court has called in about 700 potential jurors, a significantly larger number than normal. Since there are more potential jurors, he decided to raise the number of peremptory challenges to 18 – a 50% increase.

Ms. Chartier estimated jury selection would take about two weeks.

The second motion from the defense was about the phone calls between Dale and his attorneys being recorded while he has been incarcerated. Ms. Chartier argued those conversations are privileged and she was “surprised” to hear her own voice and the voices of her colleagues on jail tapes.

“I’ve never had this happen in all my years,” she said.

Ms. Chartier estimated some of the calls lasted up to 20 minutes. The fact police and prosecutors had listened to her calls had an “unbelievable chilling effect.”

In response, the prosecutor, Ms. Wyse, reminded the court that attorneys could protect their conversations with clients by visiting the jail or by offering their phone number to the jail captain and then calls to that phone number will not be recorded. Otherwise, at the beginning of each call, there is an automatic recording advising the call is from an inmate and it is being recorded. She appeared doubtful Ms. Chartier was truly shocked to hear her taped conversations.

Ms. Wyse shared the name of the person Ms. Chartier should contact at the jail to remedy the situation in the future.

Judge Olsaver said that when both sides of the conversation were advised the call was being recorded and they proceeded with the conversation anyway, they waived confidentiality.

The next motion was the defense requesting a specific paint analyst not be allowed to be an expert witness at trial. Full details of the what the analyst was analyzing was not disclosed but Ms. Chartier said, “They’re analyzing the upper layer of the paint on the tank where Ms. Warner’s body was found.”

Ms. Chartier argued there were no assurances that the analysis was done properly, if the science was valid, or if the analyst had adequate credentials. If the court did not grant the motion to remove this witness, then she requested a Daubert hearing before the trial begins. During a Daubert hearing, a judge decides if the expert testimony is admissible.

Judge Olsaver agreed to a Daubert hearing which will be scheduled soon.

In the last motion, the defense asked for a spoliation instruction. This is instruction a judge can give a jury if evidence in a case is lost or destroyed. It asks the jury to presume that any missing evidence would have been detrimental for the person who destroyed it.

Ms. Chartier referred back to the December 4, 2025, motion hearing where Michigan State Police Detective Lt. Drewyor and Retired Detective Sgt. Singleton testified they don’t document every email, text, and communication when investigating a case. Some are conversational. They said they document anything with evidentiary value and then destroy their notes. It’s procedure.

Ms. Chartier believes the defense should decide what has evidentiary value. Particularly text messages exchanged between Drewyor and Dee Warner’s brother, Gregg Hardy. Ms. Chartier claims some of them have been deleted and are now lost.

Ms. Chartier said, “It is an intentional withholding of evidence from the defense.”

Judge Olsaver said, “I don’t think it’s been established here that the deleted text messages are even potentially exculpatory as both detectives testified that they preserved everything that they believed had any evidentiary value and there’s been no indication that the police, by their conduct, have indicated that the evidence could form the basis for exoneration.”

In conclusion, Judge Olsaver said, “It has not been established that the police acted in bad faith in deleting the text messages. The only evidence is that they acted consistent with their training and experience and exercised discretion to preserve the items which they believe had some evidentiary value and not preserving the items which they did not believe had any evidentiary value.”

The motion for spoliation was denied.

Earlier this month, Ms. Chartier filed a motion for pictures of Dee’s body after it was recovered be suppressed. She claimed they could inflame the jury. Judge Olsaver said he wanted time to determine which, if any, photographs of Dee Ann Warner’s remains would be admissible. He announced his decision today.

“Photographs are not excludable simply because a witness can orally testify about the information contained in the photographs. Photographs may also be used to corroborate a witness's testimony,” Judge Olsaver said.

Dee Warner’s body is evidence. Dale Warner is charged with open murder and knowingly and intentionally removing, altering, concealing, destroying, or otherwise tampering with evidence. Judge Olsaver is allowing photographs into evidence that shows Dee’s body was tampered with. The majority of the photographs submitted by the prosecution were deemed admissible.

For more information on Dee’s case, you can start here. For up-to-date information, follow the Justice for Dee Facebook page.