Trial delayed in 2 OCC students’ slayings as defense assembles misconduct allegations

An Orange County Superior Court judge Friday set a deadline for the defense team of a man accused of double murder to lay out a sweeping motion alleging misconduct by prosecutors and law enforcement.

Judge James Stotler gave public defender Scott Sanders until mid-December to file a motion that’s likely to allege law enforcement coordinated jail informants and a TV show’s camera crew to illegally coax information from Daniel Patrick Wozniak.

Wozniak, 30, could face the death penalty if convicted of two special-circumstances murder charges in the killings of two Orange Coast College students in 2010. He has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say Wozniak has confessed to shooting Sam Herr and Juri “Julie” Kibuishi, dismembering Herr’s body in an attempt to hide it and staging Kibuishi’s body to look like she was sexually assaulted in Herr’s Costa Mesa apartment.

On Friday, the families of Herr and Kibuishi objected to the decision to delay the trial, which already has been on hold for more than four years.

“We are appalled at the lawyering and games that are being played on the defense’s side,” said Herr’s aunt, Miriam Nortman.

Sanders, however, said he has evidence of a decades-long pattern of misconduct in Orange County jails in which sheriff’s deputies focused on gathering information from defendants that would help the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Prosecutor Matt Murphy argued that is irrelevant to Wozniak’s case, partially because he said he plans to use a confession to Costa Mesa police as evidence, not one given to a jailhouse informant.

“This is the whole thing,” Sanders responded, arguing that prosecutors know about the culture of violating defendants’ rights but wash their hands of it because they either claim not to direct it or don’t directly use the evidence at trial. “This is what they do.”

Stotler granted Sanders until Dec. 17 to put together a motion including those allegations. Stotler said he would set a trial date after prosecutors decide how long they need to respond.