2 judges don’t have to testify in Costa Mesa double-murder case

An Orange County judge has ruled that two fellow judges do not have to testify in a Costa Mesa double murder case in which the defense attorney sought to question them about the use of jailhouse informants decades ago.

Attorneys for defendant Daniel Patrick Wozniak were unable to show how the two potential witnesses had unique information relevant to the case, Judge Gregg Prickett wrote in an order published Tuesday afternoon.

Wozniak faces charges that he shot to death two Orange Coast College students in 2010 and then dismembered one of them to hide the body.

His public defender, Scott Sanders, has been seeking to bar the possibility of the death penalty based on allegations that the Orange County district attorney’s office has misused informants for decades and hidden the activities from defense attorneys.

Sanders subpoenaed two judges, John Conley and Walter Schwarm, who previously held high-level positions in the district attorney’s office, hoping to question them about the use of informants at the time. The judges, however, sought to quash the subpoena.

To complicate matters, Conley is currently presiding over the Wozniak case.

“The defense has the burden to show that there was a compelling reason to command their appearance at trial,” Prickett wrote in his decision. Sanders didn’t meet that burden, Prickett ruled.

Prosecutors have called Sanders’ allegations of misconduct unfounded. Additionally, prosecutors in the Wozniak case say they do not plan to introduce any evidence from an informant who spoke with Wozniak in jail.

Before that conversation, according to grand jury testimony, Wozniak confessed to detectives that he shot 26-year-old Army veteran Sam Herr in order to steal $50,000 from his bank account.

Wozniak also is accused of luring Herr’s friend, 23-year-old Juri “Julie” Kibuishi, into Herr’s apartment, killing her and staging her body to look as if Herr had sexually assaulted her.