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  1. #1
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    Scott Evans Dekraai Sentenced to LWOP in 2011 CA Murders of Eight


    Michelle Fournier, Michele Fast, David Caouette and Christy Lynn Wilson. On bottom row, from left are Laura Webb Elody, Lucia Bernice Kondas, Victoria Ann Buzzo and Randy Lee Fannin.





    8 killed in Southern California salon shooting

    SEAL BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Every hair-dressing station was full at Salon Meritage when a gunman burst through the door and began shooting, sending terrified customers diving for cover. The shooter then stepped outside, shot a man sitting in a truck in the parking lot and sped off.

    By the time it was all over Wednesday, eight people were dead and another one in critical condition in Seal Beach, a resort town so calm the police spokesman couldn't even recall the last homicide.

    "There was like a 'pop pop' ... and my receptionist screamed out, 'He just shot that man' and we all went into the bathroom and called 911," said Kimberly Criswell, who owns a salon two doors away and knew many hairstylists at Salon Meritage. "I'm sure I've lost some friends today."

    Police arrested 42-year-old Scott Dekraai about a half-mile from the scene but did not release a motive or any other details.

    In all, one man and five women died at the salon, one man and one woman died after being sent to a nearby hospital, and one woman remained in critical condition. Their names have not been released.

    Friends of the salon owner and other employees said Dekraai was the ex-husband of a stylist who worked there. One of the licensed cosmetologists at the salon was listed as Michelle Dekraai.

    One witness, Glenn Zachman, said police placed plastic bags over the man's hands to preserve possible gunshot residue.

    The man was cooperative when officers, working from a description of the shooter, stopped him near the salon, Bowles said.

    Kari Salveson of Los Alamitos, who attended a service for the victims at SeaCoast Grace Church in Seal Beach, said she had known Michelle Dekraai for more than 10 years and was aware that she and her ex-husband were involved in a bitter custody dispute over their son, who is about 7 or 8 years old.

    She said Michelle Dekraai made her every visit to the salon special.

    "She could gab away. She was one of those girlfriends you could never get enough of. She made you smile and she made you laugh," Salveson said.

    In Huntington Beach, people were shocked to learn that one of the friendliest men in the neighborhood had been arrested for the shootings.

    Dekraai's neighbors described him as an outgoing man who invited them over for pool parties at the house he'd lived in for about six years. They said he doted on his son, playing catch with the boy in his yard.

    Neighbors said they were aware Dekraai was in a custody battle with his ex-wife.

    "It was a very difficult battle and he was trying to get more time" with his son, said Jo Cornhall, who lives across the street.

    Next-door neighbor Stephanie Malchow, 29, last saw Dekraai on Tuesday morning as she was leaving for work. She was shocked when she saw the photo of the stocky man with thinning hair being detained by Seal Beach police.

    "I'm like, no, not this neighbor, no way, he's the nicest guy ever," Malchow said.

    Dekraai married his current wife two or three years ago in his backyard, said Malchow, who attended the wedding.

    "He seemed very happy, he was just so happy he found someone new who loved his son," she said.

    Dekraai walked with a limp after a tug boat accident that killed a fellow tug boat operator about two miles off the coast in 2007. Cornhall said he uses a brace for his leg.

    Police were still trying to determine the sequence of events inside the shop. They wouldn't say what type of weapon was used or if the gunman used more than one.

    "We're unsure at this point if he shot from the entrance and people, as they were shot, ran in seeking cover or seeking shelter, but we have fatalities throughout the salon," Bowles told reporters.

    Seal Beach has seen just one other homicide in the past four years, and Bowles said Wednesday's killings were the greatest tragedy to ever strike the seaside town.

    The downtown is dotted with salons, restaurants, antique shops and boutiques clustered just blocks from a beach and pier popular with teenagers and young families. Many residents live and work within walking distance of the ocean.

    "It's like Mayberry in the middle of Los Angeles," said Doyle Surratt, lead pastor of SeaCoast Grace Church. "We're small and all the kids go to school together."

    http://www.seattlepi.com/news/articl...#ixzz1aevnJTyI

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    Death Penalty Sought in California Salon Massacre

    Southern California prosecutors have charged a 41-year-old man with eight counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in the Seal Beach hair salon massacre and will seek the death penalty.

    Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced the charges against Scott Dekraii on Friday at a press conference in Santa Ana.

    Dekraii is accused of opening fire Wednesday inside a hair salon where his ex-wife worked. They were involved in a bitter legal battle over custody of their young son.

    The district attorney says Dekraai spent two minutes methodically shooting victims in the head and chest, and stopped to reload at one point.

    Dekraii, who was armed with three guns, was arrested a short distance from the salon.

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/14...#ixzz1amdBdXmN

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    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

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    Attorney hints Dekraai guilty plea may come next week

    The attorney for Scott Dekraai hinted in court Friday that his client is considering pleading guilty next week to eight counts of murder in Orange County’s deadliest mass shooting.

    Such a plea would keep the death penalty a possibility but eliminate the need for a trial to decide Dekraai’s guilt in the Oct. 12, 2011, massacre at a Seal Beach salon.

    “We intend to have a definitive answer for the victims’ families on Monday,” Deputy Public Defender Scott Sanders said in an interview Friday night.

    Sanders did not elaborate and did not say explicitly in court that Dekraai was considering a guilty plea. But Dekraai, 44, has previously offered to plead guilty and accept eight consecutive life sentences if prosecutors drop the death penalty, a deal the Orange County District Attorney’s Office rejected.

    In an email to victims’ families late Friday, prosecutors said there was a “strong possibility” that by Monday or Tuesday “a major development that might be welcome news to many of you will take place regarding the guilt phase of our case.”

    Some families reacted with cautious relief to the possibility of a guilty plea that would spare them from days of reliving the crime in court. But Paul Wilson, whose wife, Christy, was killed inside Salon Meritage, said he won’t believe it until he hears the word “guilty.”

    “Until I stand in that courtroom and hear those words spoken, I’ll not take anything to the bank,” he said.

    Wilson heard the news of a possible plea on the same day he sold his wife’s black 2006 Cadillac Escalade.

    “It was the last thing I was holding on to,” he said. “It killed me. It is still killing me.”

    A plea would mean the parents of Dekraai’s ex-wife. Michelle Fournier, the first victim in the massacre, wouldn’t have to travel from New York for a trial scheduled to start June 9.

    “That’s great as far as I am concerned,” said Fournier’s brother, Butch Fournier, of Cypress. “Anything to keep me out of court.”

    A guilty plea by Dekraai or a jury conviction would bring him the same sense of peace, said Fournier, whose sister would have turned 51 on March 30.

    Paul Caouette, of Costa Mesa, whose father, David ,was killed as he sat in his car outside the salon, said he would “absolutely … love to see (Dekraai) plead guilty.”

    “I am all for it because I don’t think there’s a real question in anyone’s mind that he’s guilty or not,” said Caouette, adding that ongoing hearings stemming from motions filed by Dekraai’s lawyers are “so draining on everyone.”

    Paul Wilson said a guilty plea would shorten the process and be “a big load off of us.” But Dekraai, he said, is “still a coward to me at the end of the day.”

    http://www.ocregister.com/articles/d...ilty-plea.html
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    Lawyer: Man will plead guilty to killing 8 in California salon shooting rampage in 2011

    SANTA ANA, Calif. – A defense lawyer says a California man accused of shooting and killing his ex-wife and seven other people at a hair salon has agreed to plead guilty.

    Defense lawyer Scott Sanders told an Orange County court on Monday that 44-year-old Scott Dekraai (deh-CRY) would enter the plea.

    Authorities say Dekraai shot his ex-wife, a hairdresser at Salon Meritage, before killing the Seal Beach salon's owner and six others in 2011.

    He had been locked in a custody dispute over their 8-year-old son before police say he strapped on a bulletproof vest, took three guns and entered the salon.

    Dekraai had previously offered to plead guilty in exchange for multiple life sentences but prosecutors refused to drop the death penalty from consideration.

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/28...oting-rampage/
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    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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    Victims' Families Scream at Dekraai in Court

    Raw emotions burst forth Friday when accused mass murderer Scott Evans Dekraai made his first court appearance on charges of gunning down nine people in Seal Beach this week.

    One woman screamed: "I hate you!" And a victim's husband shouted "Coward" after Dekraai shuffled into a Santa Ana courtroom in shackles and a dijon-colored jail jumpsuit.

    The 41-year-old defendant was scheduled to enter a plea to eight felony counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in Wednesday's rampage at a Seal Beach beauty salon. But the arraignment was postponed to Nov. 29 after Dekraai's lawyer asked for time to assemble a legal team.

    Nearly 20 family members of the victims crowded into the Santa Ana courtroom to watch Dekraai's arraignment. Some wore sunglasses to hide their tears. Others shared tissues and hugs.

    DeKraai Needs Antipsychotic Meds, Attorney Says

    During the hearing, defense attorney Robert Curtis told Judge Erick L. Marsh that his client wasn't receiving the antipsychotic medications he needs. Curtis also said Dekraai needs a battery for a spinal cord stimulator he wears as a result of a 2007 tugboat mishap that almost severed his legs.

    After the short hearing, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told a swarm of news reporters he wouldn't be surprised if Dekraai tries an insanity plea.

    "I think we are hearing something about the defense," said Rackauckas, who is seeking the death penalty. "Clearly it's going in that direction."

    According to a pyschological evaluation of DeKraai conducted during the course of his child custody battle, DeKraai has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, said John S. Cate Jr., the attorney who represented DeKraai's ex-wife Michelle Fournier in family court.

    Both sides also hinted there might be a change of venue for the trial because of intense media coverage of the case, the largest mass murder in Orange County history.

    The delay of Dekraai's hearing to Nov. 28 seemed to upset victim family members. One husband buried his head in his hands.


    Family Court Records Outline Dekraai Legal



    Scott Dekraai and ex-wife Michelle Fournier were locked in a battle for control of their young son when Dekraai allegedly shot her and eight others in a Seal Beach salon.

    Buried in a labyrinth of court documents stretching back four years is a litany of he-said, she-said accusations that might have helped trigger Wednesday's deadly massacre in a Seal Beach salon.

    As the paperwork mounted, so did the accusations between accused killer Scott Evans Dekraai and his second ex-wife, Michelle Fournier.

    He claimed she drank too much—sometimes while caring for their son
    She said he was physically abusive during their marriage
    He said she harassed him with multiple phone calls
    She claimed he was using a disability settlement to file more court papers and run up her legal bills

    These and other details from the former couple's legal battle emerged the day after the mass shooting shocked Seal Beach.

    Court records show that Fournier and Dekraai, who divorced in 2008 after just a few years of marriage, clashed repeatedly over custody of their 8-year-old son, money and other issues.

    At one point, even Dekraai's stepfather joined the legal fray, claiming Dekraai attacked him in front of Dekraai's son, age 4 at the time.

    According to the Los Angeles Times, Dekraai had to move out of his stepfather's home, was barred by the court from owning firearms and was ordered to complete a 52-week batterer intervention program.

    But most of Dekraai's legal skirmishes revolved around the divorce and custody of his son, Dominic.

    Most recently, Dekraai sought to change the couple's 50-50 custody arrangement to give him more time with the boy, according to Mary Cate of the the Santa Ana law firm that represented Michelle.

    Dekraai based his request on Fournier's alleged lack of parenting skills.

    He also sought to have Dominic's school location changed.

    Other legal documents outline a veritable war between Fournier, a hairdresser, and Dekraai, a tugboat employee who stopped working after a 2007 accident nearly severed his legs.

    Money was a major battleground.

    Dekraai paid $1,500 a month in child support. Fournier wanted more. In April, she asked Dekraai to pay her legal bills, claiming he had recently come into money from a disability settlement.

    She also claimed he was using that settlement to finance various legal actions designed to drive up her legal bills. She said the high cost of fighting Dekraai in court had drained her checking account, forcing her to borrow from friends and run up credit card debt.

    In 2007, Dekraai filed court documents saying his ex-wife called him multiple times a day and left "nasty messages" and that his psychiatrist suggested he limit their phone time.

    The psychiatrist requested they communicate only by email.

    In 2008, a court order limited phone conversations between Dekraai and Fournier to once a week for 10 minutes. The order said the topic of conversation had to be their child, with an exception for emergencies.

    The order also forbade Fournier from drinking alcohol while she had custody of the boy or on the day before she picked him up, according to court records.

    The skirmishes continued into 2011, with no fewer than five court hearings scheduled, including one on the docket for December of this year.

    During this year's legal back-and-forth, a court-appointed psychologist was assigned to determine the best interests of their son. The expert returned a sealed report on Monday of this week.

    A hearing on the report was set for Tuesday but the parties agreed the matter could not fully be resolved that day. A new court date was set for Dec. 20.

    "They were going to have a hearing ... but he didn't give us a chance to do that," Cate said.

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    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
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    911 calls reveal new details of Calif. salon shooting

    SEAL BEACH, Calif. (AP) — With gunfire blazing and people wailing, a woman hiding in the back of a hair salon quietly pleaded with emergency dispatchers to send help.

    "Please hurry," the woman said. "People are screaming and crying."

    The recording of her voice on the 911 call was one of seven released Monday by Seal Beach, Calif., police in the aftermath of the Salon Meritage massacre that left eight dead and one severely wounded.

    Callers described the same horror. They were cowering behind cars, holed up in back rooms and afraid they were going to die.

    Scott Dekraai, the ex-husband of one of the salon workers, was quickly arrested nearby and charged with eight counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. Prosecutors say the 42-year-old former tugboat operator was seeking revenge against his ex-wife, a stylist who worked in the salon, in a custody dispute over their 8-year-old son.

    The Orange County district attorney intends to seek the death penalty if Dekraai is convicted.

    Sobbing, one woman called while hiding behind a car in the parking lot.

    "A gunman came in and killed a bunch of people. They're all lying down on the floor," she said frantically, adding that she got a look at the shooter.

    The dispatcher asked if she saw where he went.

    "No, I got down and put my hands over my neck like an air raid drill and was just hoping he wasn't gonna kill me," she said, bursting into tears.

    In another 911 recording, a caller from a business next door can be heard asking someone else if the doors are locked.

    "And how many shots did you hear?" the emergency dispatcher asked.

    "He's still shooting right now. He's still shooting right now," the caller said.

    "OK. And how many shots have you heard?" the dispatcher asked as someone interjected, "Oh my God."

    The caller went on to say she heard 10 shots.

    "We need somebody here, like, right now," the caller demanded.

    Almost immediately, bits of information about the shooter began to emerge from the callers. A hairstylist who escaped to a nearby business told a dispatcher the gunman wore a Hawaiian-like shirt and was the ex-husband of "one of the girls," but she didn't know his name. Another caller pointed authorities to a man in a white truck.

    Police Chief Robert Luman told reporters the first call was received at 1:21 p.m. Within about five minutes, police had located and arrested Dekraai, Luman said.

    "A crime such as this is devastating in any community but is particularly profound in a small, close-knit community such as ours," Luman said of the seaside town that has held vigils and erected a makeshift memorial outside the salon.

    Dekraai, of nearby Huntington Beach, appeared in an Orange County courtroom on Friday, his shackles clanking as he walked. Relatives and friends of the victims shouted insults at him, with one sobbing woman screaming, "I hate you."

    Dekraai was being held without bail. Defense attorney Robert Curtis said Dekraai wasn't getting his anti-psychotic medication in jail — a statement that prompted prosecutors to say they wouldn't be surprised to see an insanity defense.

    Authorities say that after a final conversation with his ex-wife, Michelle Fournier, that morning, Dekraai drove to the salon where he knew she would be working.

    Eight people were shot inside the salon and only one survived — customer Harriet Stretz, 73. She had gone to the salon that day to have her hair done by her daughter, Laura Lee Elody, who was killed in the shooting. Stretz was released from the hospital Monday.

    Dekraai and Fournier split up in 2006 and divorced the following year. The two had joint custody of their son and had been involved in an increasingly acrimonious custody dispute since Dekraai asked a judge to grant him more time with the boy and change his school.

    Both parents were in court the day before the shootings for a custody hearing that was continued until December. They had recently received a report from a court-appointed psychologist that recommended their custody arrangement remain the same, said John Cate, Fournier's attorney in the custody dispute.

    The report also urged the former couple to attend counseling to learn how to effectively co-parent, Cate said.

    http://pottsmerc.com/articles/2011/1...mode=fullstory

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    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
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    Scott Dekraai pleads guilty to 2011 Seal Beach salon massacre, prosecutors plan to seek death penalty

    A man pleaded guilty Friday to killing his ex-wife and seven others in a shooting rampage at a California hair salon in 2011.

    Scott Dekraai, 44, a former tugboat operator, entered his pleas to eight counts of murder and one count of attempted murder with special circumstances and enhancements in Orange County Superior Court.

    Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.

    Dekraai’s lawyer says his client entered the pleas to spare victims’ relatives from sitting through a trial. However, he said Dekraai will fight to keep from being sentenced to death.

    Dekraai donned a bulletproof vest before heading to the Seal Beach salon where his ex-wife worked as a stylist in October 2011. Authorities said he shot and killed Michelle Fournier before turning his gun on the salon’s owner and spraying Salon Meritage with bullets.

    After leaving the building, Dekraai shot and killed a man who was sitting in his car in a parking lot, authorities said.

    Police arrested Dekraai, who had been locked in a bitter custody dispute with Fournier over their 8-year-old son, within minutes.

    “’I know what I did,’” he told an arresting officer, according to a police affidavit.

    The salon reopened about a year later, with six of the original employees returning to work.

    Since the shootings, victims’ relatives have pleaded with the judge at numerous hearings to hasten the case to trial. In March, Judge Thomas M. Goethals severed the guilt and penalty phases to prevent additional delays as Dekraai’s lawyer Scott Sanders argues motions related to prosecutors’ efforts to seek the death penalty.

    Sanders wants the district attorney’s office recused from Dekraai’s case and the death penalty taken off the table over allegations that authorities misused jailhouse informants and didn’t turn over evidence to defense attorneys. Prosecutors have denied the claims.

    http://www.dailynews.com/general-new...-death-penalty
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