Long delays in accused killer’s prosecution frustrate victim’s family

Steve Herr keeps a list in a notebook of every court hearing that’s been held for the man accused of killing his son.

So far — four years, three months and 17 days after Sam Herr’s death — court has been brought to order 41 times in the government’s case against Daniel Patrick Wozniak, but the accused killer still has not gone to trial.

“Every time we go in there, it’s a slap in the face,” Steve Herr said one recent morning before again ducking into Orange County Superior Court.

“I’m starting to hate the justice system more than I hate Wozniak.”

Wozniak, 30, is accused of killing Sam Herr, dismembering the former Army soldier’s body and then trying to loot his savings account to pay for his own wedding.

Though Wozniak allegedly confessed to killing Herr and a second person, the trial has been delayed again and again by complications in another homicide case, unexpected deaths and squabbles among lawyers.

Wozniak’s defense most recently asked to postpone the trial until next year while it crafts a motion alleging misconduct by prosecutors.

“Every delay hurts more,” Herr said. “The anger builds.”

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Wozniak and Sam Herr, 26, lived in the same apartment complex, not far from Orange Coast College, where Herr was taking classes.

One spring day in 2010, prosecutors said, Wozniak asked Herr for help moving furniture but instead shot him twice in the head before dismembering him and burying his head in a Long Beach regional park.

Police said Wozniak, who was preparing to get married, wanted to get his hands on Herr’s savings account, where he had saved $50,000 from his Army service in Afghanistan.

Concerned after not hearing from his son, Steve Herr drove to his apartment and discovered the body of Juri “Julie” Kibuishi sprawled across his son’s bed, according to grand jury testimony. The 23-year-old woman was Sam Herr’s friend and his college tutor.

Detectives later said they determined that in a bizarre scheme, Wozniak had used Sam Herr’s phone to lure Kibuishi to the apartment and then shot her, staging the scene to make it appear Sam Herr had sexually assaulted her.

Wozniak was arrested days later at his bachelor party.

Since then, Sam Herr’s mother, father, aunt and uncle have attended each court hearing.

“We’re the only ones speaking for Sam,” said Mike Nortman, the uncle.

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A string of unrelated events has slowed the government’s effort to put Wozniak on trial and, ultimately they hope, death row.

One of the prosecution’s key witnesses, a detective who allegedly helped get Wozniak to confess, was killed in a car crash. The wife of the judge hearing the case died. And court hearings have at times degenerated into bickering between prosecutors and defense attorneys.

But as much as anything, the Herr family feels they’ve taken a back seat to another murder case.

Wozniak’s public defender, Scott Sanders, also is defending Scott Dekraai, who pleaded guilty to killing eight people at a Seal Beach salon in what became the county’s bloodiest mass killing. Dekraai is now awaiting a hearing to determine whether he should get the death penalty.

Sanders has repeatedly asked for more time on the Wozniak case during months of hearings on a 505-page motion he submitted alleging misconduct by prosecutors in the Dekraai case.

Sanders even submitted material from that case to prove to Superior Court Judge James Stotler how diligently he had been working.

Although Stotler agreed, telling Sanders his work was “the absolute antithesis of laziness,” it was cold comfort for Sam Herr’s family.

“They literally pit victims against victims,” Steve Herr said.

Sanders has told Stotler he now needs until December to craft a motion alleging that law enforcement illegally used jailhouse informants and a camera crew for the MSNBC show “Lockup” to coax information from Wozniak.

Prosecutors countered that it was just a smoke screen, arguing they’re not going to use anything from informants at trial and that Wozniak willingly signed up for the TV show.

After months of hearings about informants in the Dekraai case, a judge ruled that the Orange County district attorney’s office had failed to turn over evidence in some homicide cases, but he declined to throw out the possibility of the death penalty for Dekraai.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Wozniak as well, an option the Herr family wants to stay on the table.

“He doesn’t deserve to live,” Nortman said. “That’s the most frustrating thing, that he’s still living and breathing and watching TV.”

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Last month, when Stotler said he needed to finish reading the documents Sanders submitted before he sets a trial date, Sam Herr’s parents began waving their hands from the audience. They wanted to speak.

Facing Stotler, Steve Herr clenched his jaw and described finding someone to reattach his son’s head so he could be buried in a proper military cemetery.

He said he almost lost control when the defense then asked for a February court date.

“I ask you to please give us closure,” said the victim’s mother, Raquel Herr.

Later, outside the courtroom, the couple reflected on a case that has consumed their lives.

“You never forget your child,” Raquel Herr said. “But I would like as much as possible to go on with my life.”

On Friday, the judge set another hearing, this one right before the holidays in December. And another entry for Steve Herr’s notebook.

jeremiah.dobruck2@latimes.com