Mendocino County man accused of killing 5-year-old in 1986 slaying of ex-member, family

The eight-week Mendocino County murder trial of Hells Angels leader Charles Anthony Diaz concluded Wednesday after two days of closing arguments with the defense accusing the key prosecution witnesses of being the real killers.

Prosecutors "made a deal with the devil and the devil is Mike Tankersley and Charlie Haas," said Diaz's defense attorney, Ed Alvord.

Tankersley and Haas, two former members of the Hells Angels, provided the central testimony linking Diaz to the 1986 massacre in a Fort Bragg farmhouse that left four people dead.

Diaz is accused of killing 5-year-old Dallas Grondalski in Fort Bragg in October 1986 while taking care of Hells Angels' "business."

His alleged accomplice, Gerald Michael Lester, was convicted in 1997 of killing the girl, her father, former Hells Angel member William Grondalski, her mother, Patricia, and her half-brother, Nolan, 17, during the massacre.

Lester is serving four life sentences for the crime.

Diaz is accused of cutting Dallas' neck while Lester was convicted of shooting her. Both wounds were lethal, according to testimony at the trial.

A photograph of the dead girl, still clutching a Matchbox car in her left hand, was shown frequently during the trial.

Diaz did not look up when the photograph was projected on a courtroom screen. During most of the two-month trial, he kept his eyes on the table in front of him, busily taking notes, first on a laptop computer, later on a notepad.

On trial with Diaz are three people accused of conspiring to cover up the killings.