Actor's Double Murder Conviction Imperiled by Trial Blunder

Santa Ana, CA - An Orange County Superior Court judge today granted an evidentiary hearing following the death penalty conviction of a Costa Mesa killer of two victims to determine if his due process rights were violated.

Daniel Patrick Wozniak's attorney has argued in court papers that authorities withheld notes by sheriff's deputies in the Orange County jail that might have shed a better light on his client while in custody, something that could have been used to argue against the death penalty.

Judge John Conley ordered the evidentiary hearing following disclosure that some writings of the sheriff's deputies were not turned over to the defense before the trial.

The hearing will continue Thursday with sheriff's Cmdr. Adam Powell continuing to testify.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas issued a statement late today that essentially put the blame on jailers.

Rackauckas said he "expects police officers to tell the truth and pursue justice."

Rackauckas said his "team made repeated, specific, pointed requests of the Orange County Sheriff's Department for all records kept by OCSD jail deputy sheriffs concerning inmates such as Fernando Perez."

Rackauckas also said his office "visited offices located at the OCSD jail to personally inspect all categories of their records."

Rackauckas said today that "additional notes were produced in court... that were not previously produced to OCDA despite the requests made and the visit to the OCSD. The OCDA finds it distressing that these notes would be withheld from the OCDA, the court and the public until this hearing."

Rackauckas said Sheriff Sanda Hutchens "assured" him that "she will take appropriate internal action to address this issue."

Wozniak was scheduled to be sentenced this month, six years after the killings of 26-year-old Samuel Eliezer Herr and 23-year-old Julie Kibuishi.

Wozniak was deep in debt in May 2010, facing eviction and without money for his pending wedding, when he concocted a plan to kill his neighbor, Herr, and throw police off the trail by making it look like Herr murdered and raped his female friend, Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy argued at trial.

Wozniak, who grew up in Long Beach, further tried to confound investigators by dismembering his first victim and dumping the body parts in the El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach, Murphy said.

Wozniak's attorney, Scott Sanders, persuaded an Orange County Superior Court judge to boot Rackauckas' office off the death penalty phase trial for Scott Dekraai, the worst mass killer in the county's history. That ruling is under appeal.

In Dekraai's case, Sanders also argued evidence was withheld and that an informant violated Dekraai's constitutional rights by questioning him while he was represented by an attorney.

Perez, who was one of the informants who came in contact with Dekraai, also spoke with Wozniak in the jail. Perez said he could supply information to prosecutors on Wozniak, but Murphy said no thanks because Wozniak had confessed and there was little value to Perez's statements.

City News Service