Defense cannot reveal arrest
Defense attorneys for convicted double murderer Daniel Wozniak won’t be allowed to tell jurors that one of Wozniak’s victims was arrested in a murder case years earlier, an Orange County Superior Court judge has ruled.
Wozniak’s defense team was hoping to reveal Sam Herr’s arrest before jurors decide whether Wozniak, a 31-year-old community theater actor from Costa Mesa, should be sentenced to death for the slayings of Herr, 26, and his friend Juri “Julie” Kibuishi, 23, in May 2010.
Wozniak was found guilty last month of two counts of murder. Since Monday, jurors have been hearing the prosecutor’s case that he deserves death for the crimes instead of life in prison without parole.
On Wednesday, Wozniak’s public defender, Scott Sanders, asked Judge John Conley for permission to call witnesses who would testify about Herr’s arrest in connection with a gang-related killing in Los Angeles County 14 years ago. Ultimately, a jury acquitted Herr of murder and manslaughter charges.
According to Los Angeles County court documents, prosecutors believed that Herr and 17 members of the Brown Familia gang ambushed a rival gang member in a Santa Clarita parking lot on Jan. 16, 2002.
Prosecutors alleged that the group beat 19-year-old Byron Benito with crowbars and stabbed him 33 times. Benito allegedly was targeted for revenge after a Brown Familia gang member was found slain a day earlier, according to court documents.
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office argued that Herr was Benito’s close friend and was selected to lure him to the site of the ambush, according to court filings at the time.
Sanders said jurors deciding Wozniak’s fate should hear that because witnesses so far have presented Herr as a loyal friend, loving son and heroic veteran who served in Afghanistan.
Prosecutor Matt Murphy countered that he has intentionally limited witnesses’ descriptions of Herr to avoid presenting a possibly misleading picture to jurors that would open the door to rebuttal from the defense.
“Sam was a war hero,” said Murphy, who added that he avoided asking Herr’s friends and family about the multiple times Herr risked his life in a war zone.
Conley agreed that prosecutors had not presented a dishonestly flattering picture of Herr. Beyond that, he noted, Herr was acquitted in Benito’s slaying.
“Yes, there is some damning evidence in respect to Mr. Herr,” Conley said before denying Sanders’ motion. “But I think we have to respect the jury’s verdict and not open that Pandora’s box.”
Wozniak was desperate for cash to cover his rent and finance his wedding, and targeted Herr for money, Murphy said. After getting Herr’s PIN so he could withdraw money from the veteran’s bank account, Wozniak shot and killed him.
In a cover-up attempt, Wozniak used Herr’s phone to lure Kibuishi to Herr’s apartment, where Wozniak shot her and staged her body to look as though Herr had sexually assaulted her before fleeing, according to prosecutors.
Days after the killings, ATM withdrawals from Herr’s account led investigators to Wozniak.
After a series of interviews with police, Wozniak confessed on video to both slayings.