The sentencing of Daniel Patrick Wozniak in the Joint Forces Training Base murder case has been postponed. Instead, the court has scheduled two hearings to determine if the authorities provided the defense with all the records the defense is legally entitled to get. The judge in the case was scheduled to sentence Wozniak this week. On Jan. 11, a jury recommended the death penalty for Wozniak, 32, who was convicted of the 2010 murder of his neighbor, Samuel “Sam” Herr, and murdering Herr’s friend Juri “Julie” Kibuishi.
The sentencing of Daniel Patrick Wozniak in the Joint Forces Training Base murder case has been postponed. Instead, the court has scheduled two hearings to determine if the authorities provided the defense with all the records the defense is legally entitled to get. The judge in the case was scheduled to sentence Wozniak this week. On Jan. 11, a jury recommended the death penalty for Wozniak, 32, who was convicted of the 2010 murder of his neighbor, Samuel “Sam” Herr, and murdering Herr’s friend Juri “Julie” Kibuishi. Prosecutors say Wozniak murdered Herr for financial gain and murdered Kibuishi in order to frame Herr for her murder For a brief time, the Costa Mesa Police Department did, in fact, consider Herr a suspect.
However, the judge cancelled the sentencing hearing to hold hearings to be sure that the authorities have given the defense all the information they are legally entitled to have. The defense subpoenaed jail records from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
During recent court hearings, the Sheriff’s Department custodian of records testified that OCSD management and command staff knew nothing of the existence of this set of jail records, which were described in court as daily activity logs of the jail’s special handling deputies.
In a recent statement to the press, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office reported that the agency did not know this set of jail records existed. According to the DA’s statement, the records don’t appear to be relevant to the prosecution of Wozniak. The DA’s Office is also arguing that it wasn’t part of the Wozniak investigation and was therefore not obligated to provide the jail records.
According to the DA’s Office, neither the District Attorney nor the Costa Mesa Police Department used a jail informer in the Wozniak investigation. The next hearings in the Wozniak case are set for Friday, May 20, and June 10. The District Attorney’s Office expects the judge to set a new date for Wozniak’s sentencing during the June hearing.
