Death Penalty Trial Set for Scott Dekraai in 2011 CA Salon Shooting

[Heidi]

Scott Dekraai indicted in Seal Beach salon shooting

The man accused of killing eight people in a Seal Beach hair Salon in the largest mass murder in Orange County history was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury.

Scott Dekraai, 42, was indicted on eight counts of murder with special circumstances and one felony count of attempted murder in connection with the Oct. 12 rampage at Salon Meritage, the Orange County district attorney's office said.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case, which shocked the normally tranquil seaside community after Dekraai allegedly walked into the crowded salon where his ex-wife worked and sprayed it with gunfire.

Photos: Seal Beach salon shooting rampage | Full Coverage



He had been involved in a bitter custody dispute with his ex wife, Michelle Fournier, over their 8-year-old son, according to court records. Dekraai was intent on killing Fournier and others who were inside the salon, prosecutors said.
Dekraai was wearing a bulletproof vest under his clothing and had armed himself with three high-powered handguns, two of which were used to hit his victims at close range, according to prosecutors.

He is accused of shooting some of his victims multiple times, stopping to reload while people lay dying on the ground, prosecutors say.

Dekraai is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon on the indictment at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. He pleaded not guilty in November at an earlier arraignment after charges were initially filed by the district attorney.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...-shooting.html

[Heidi]

Salon Shooting Trial Set For One Year After the Massacre

The death penalty case of the man accused of killing eight people at the Salon Meritage in Seal Beach is set for trial Oct. 15, a year and three days after the shooting that stands as the deadliest mass murder in Orange County’s history.

Scott Evans Dekraai, 42, the alleged Salon Meritage gunman, appeared in court today for a pretrial hearing during which the trial date was set. He is scheduled to be back in court in April for a motion hearing during which the prosecution and defense are expected to wrangle over whether the grand jury transcripts in the case should be sealed.

“The defense has filed a motion to keep the grand jury transcript sealed. The people intend to file a motion prior to the April 13th hearing in opposition,” said Farrah Emami, spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney’s office.

The people have the right to the grand jury testimony, and this case should be as transparent as any other, said Emami.

The reason the Dekraai’s defense team would want to bar the testimony from becoming public record is to prevent it from possibly prejudicing the jury pool. When Dekraai was first arraigned two days after the shooting, his attorney hinted that a change of venue motion might be filed on the grounds that Dekraai could not get a fair trial in Orange County. If such a motion is filed, it would likely be filed closer to the October trial date.

Earlier this month, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas convened a grand jury to have Dekraai indicted in an effort to expedite the trial. The move, said Rackauckas, was designed to speed up the trial in order to bring justice to the families of the victims. Family members of the eight people Dekraai is accused of killing have attended each court hearing the case since the shootings.

Deputy District Attorney Scott Simmons, however, said it was doubtful the trial will begin then. Prosecutors are hoping to get the case before a jury sometime next year, Simmons said.

Rackauckas said he anticipates that it would take a little over two months to try the case. Dekraai is currently represented by a public defender, but his earlier attorney hinted that a change of venue motion or insanity defense could play a role in the case.

Dekraai is accused of walking into the Salon Meritage on Oct. 12 and shooting and killing his 48-year-old ex-wife Michelle Fournier before opening fire on others inside the business. Also killed in the shooting were the salon's owner, Randy Lee Fannin, 62; Victoria Ann Buzzo, 54; Lucia Bernice Kondas, 65; Laura Lee Elody, 46; Christy Lynn Wilson, 47; Michele Daschbach Fast, 47, and David Caouette, 64. Hattie Stretz, 73, was also shot, but survived. Dekraai remains jailed without bail.

http://losalamitos.patch.com/article...r-the-massacre

[Heidi]

Judge to Consider Unsealing Records in Salon Shooting Indictment

A hearing is set for this morning to determine whether to make public the grand jury transcripts for the man accused of murdering eight people by opening fire in a Seal Beach salon last year.

An Orange County Superior Court judges is scheduled to hear motions on whether to unseal the transcripts from the grand jury proceedings in the death penalty trial of Scott Evans Dekraai.

It’s possible that the hearing will be rescheduled for another day, and it’s also likely that both the prosecution and defense will be opposed to unsealing the transcripts from the testimony that convinced a grand jury to indict Dekraai on multiple counts of murder.

However, there are those affected by the case who aren’t opposed to seeing the transcripts unsealed. Relatives of some of the victims told Patch they don’t see the need to keep the transcripts sealed as the painful details of the details of that day have already been made public.

The indictment process, which is done in secret, was done to speed up the trial. A grand jury indictment negates the need for a preliminary hearing, which can take months of preparation and several days of testimony leading up to the actual trial.

After listening to closed-door testimony, the grand jury indicted Dekraai on eight counts of murder with special circumstances and one count of attempted murder. If convicted, Dekraai faces the death penalty.

Nine people were shot and eight died in the Oct. 12 shooting at Salon Meritage. The shootings, which took less than two minutes, produced the highest death toll of any mass murder in Orange County history.

http://losalamitos.patch.com/article...ing-indictment

[Heidi]

Seal Beach shootings: Dekraai taped in cell

Authorities covertly recorded more than 100 hours of jailhouse conversations between the Huntington Beach man charged with killing eight people in a Seal Beach salon and an informant, court documents reviewed by the Register reveal.

Deputy Public Defender Scott Sanders contends in a pretrial motion that prosecutors and police installed an audio-recording device in Scott Evans Dekraai's one-man cell Oct. 19, 2011, one week after Dekraai was charged with the deadliest mass killing in Orange County history, and recorded his conversations for six days. The informant, in custody after a weapons conviction, was in a nearby cell.

Sanders said in his motion that he is not questioning the legality of the secret recordings but is seeking to determine whether the informant initiated the conversations or enticed Dekraai into talking about his meetings with his own attorneys, the shootings or his background.

If the conversations were enticed or pre-arranged, Sanders contends in his motion, it could be a violation of Dekraai's rights to legal representation because they took place after Dekraai was represented by a lawyer.

Sanders said he seeks additional information about the informant so he can consider filing a motion to suppress the recordings from being used as evidence at Dekraai's trial, the court documents show.

Among other things, Sanders seeks details about any other cases on which the informant cooperated with law enforcement, any benefits he received from prosecutors and any reports or notes about his communications with Dekraai.

The informant, Sanders wrote, "has received substantial and unusual benefits" from the prosecution in exchange for his cooperation, while his investigators have been thwarted in their attempts to locate the inmate.

Assistant District Attorney Dan Wagner, one of two prosecutors assigned to the Dekraai case, said Tuesday that he does not plan to call the inmate as a witness in Dekraai's trial, and therefore the defense is not entitled to more details about his background.

But Wagner also said he plans to use some of the 132 audio recordings as evidence during Dekraai's death-penalty trial, including one in which Dekraai seems to brag about the killings.

"The recordings speak for themselves," Wagner said.

Prosecutors will file a brief later this week opposing Sanders' motion for discovery, Wagner said. Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals has scheduled arguments on the motion for Jan. 25.

Sanders originally filed his motion for discovery last week. He refiled it Tuesday with the last name of the informant and personal identifying details deleted or blacked out. The Register is not publishing the name of the informantbecause of potential danger to the inmate.

Veteran defense attorney George Peters, who has defended death penalty cases in Orange County since 1981, agreed Tuesday that the issue is not whether the prosecution secretly taped Dekraai but whether the informant induced him to start talking.

"It is my understanding that you don't have an expectation of privacy from your jail cell," Peters said. But in a death penalty trial, Peters added, a defense attorney is obligated "to fully explore whether an informant induced a client to discuss his case."

Dekraai, 44, is charged with eight counts of murder in the midday massacre at Salon Meritage on Oct. 12, 2011.

Witnesses told police that he walked into the salon shortly after 1 p.m. and immediately shot stylist Michelle Fournier, 47, his ex-wife, after arguing with her earlier in the day by phone over child custody.

He then shot Christy Lynn Wilson, 47, Fournier's friend and colleague, and salon owner Randy Fannin, 61, witnesses said, before shooting others at random. Victoria Ann Buzzo, 54; Lucia Bernice Kondas, 65; Laura Lee Webb Elody, 46; and Michele Fast, 47, were shot and killed.

Harriet Stretz, 73, was shot and wounded. David Caouette, 64, was shot and killed while sitting in his vehicle in the parking lot outside the salon as the shooter was fleeing, police said.

A Seal Beach patrol officer stopped and arrested Dekraai as he drove away from the salon. "I know what I did," Dekraai told the officer, a search warrant affidavit said.

Dekraai was indicted on eight counts of murder in January 2012. He has pleaded not guilty.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/dekra...t-sanders.html

[Heidi]

Seal Beach Massacre Suspect Pepper-Sprayed in Jail

The man accused in the mass shooting at a Seal Beach salon was placed under mental observation after an altercation at an Orange County jail.

Guards said they had to subdue Scott Dekraai with pepper spray after he became disruptive Saturday night.

Authorities say Dekraai, who was screaming and throwing things, charged at deputies, who had to wrestle him to the ground.

Dekraai, 44, is charged with eight counts of murder in the midday massacre at Salon Meritage on October 12, 2011.

He was indicted in January 2012 and has pleaded not guilty.

Dekraai could face the death penalty if he’s convicted.

Among the victims in the salon shooting was Dekraai’s ex-wife, stylist Michelle Fournier, 47, with whom he was involved in a bitter custody dispute.

Read more: http://ktla.com/2013/01/29/seal-beac...#ixzz2JP7h4aQh
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