Alleged Salon Shooter Pleads Not Guilty, Trial Could Be Expedited

A Huntington Beach man accused of killing eight people at a Seal Beach beauty salon pleaded not guilty today to eight counts of murder as attorneys on both sides of the case jockeyed for their choice of judge in the case.

Scott Evans Dekraai, 42, was originally charged with the killings and pleaded not guilty last year, but he was indicted by a grand jury yesterday on the same counts, meaning the case will not have to go through a preliminary hearing, potentially shaving months off the case.

“If we did it with the other method, it could easily take years to get to a preliminary hearing,” said Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.

A pretrial hearing was set for Jan. 27. Rackauckas said he hopes to try the case this year and anticipates that it would take a little over two months.

The case was assigned to Orange County Superior Court Thomas M. Goethals Wednesday only after the prosecution and defense challenged the first two judges assigned to the case. Deputy Public Defender Scott Sanders challenged and had Judge Francisco P. Briseno removed from the case, and then Rackauckas challenged and had Judge Richard F. Toohey removed from the case. Neither side offered an explanation for their decision to challenge the assignments.

``This is nothing against Judge Toohey. He's a very fine judge,'' Rackauckas said. ``We would just rather be in a different court for this particular case.''

Yesterday, it was announced that the grand jury had indicted Dekraai following closed-door testimony in an effort to speed past the preliminary hearing process.

Flanked by the relatives of shooting victims outside the courtroom today, Rackauckas explained the legal maneuver.

“What we want to do here is get this case to trial as soon as we can and get it over with for the people, for the victims’ families and so we can have justice as soon as possible,” Rackauckas said.

``The defense indicated they wouldn't be ready for a preliminary hearing until the fall, and we didn't want to wait that long,'' added Deputy District Attorney Dan Wagner.

Loved ones of the shooting victim’s said they are relieved by the effort to speed up the trial.

``We're happy that it speeds the whole case up,'' said Craig Burke,brother of Dekraai's ex-wife, Michelle Fournier.

For every court date in the case, Fournier makes the trek from his home in Arizona to put a face to the victims of the tragedy.

 “It’s important for them to see who was hurt,” said Chelsea Huff, Michelle Fournier’s daughter.

   The husband of Christy Lynn Wilson, another victim of the rampage, expressed a similar sentiment.   ``Obviously we're happy. Mr. Rackauckas' team is doing a great job,'' said Paul Wilson. ``But the message I have today is we need to wake up as a society. We have a problem with guns,'' he said, advocating for gun control.Wilson questioned how Dekraai was allowed to possess numerous guns and body armor. “We need to look at the way gun permits are given out,” he said.``My life was changed in two minutes. We need to wake up and talk about gun control,'' Wilson said. ``We lost eight lives that day to someone who had no business owning a weapon, no business whatsoever.'' 

Dekraai is charged with eight counts of murder, including the special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders, and a count of attempted murder for a woman who was shot during the spree but survived.

He appeared in court Wednesday a little thinner than when he was arrested. Wearing glasses, he was clean-shaven, and he chatted calmly with his attorney from behind a courtroom holding cage as about two dozen family members of the shooting victims looked on.

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. Prosecutors have already announced they plan to seek the death penalty for Dekraai.

 - City News Service Contributed to this report.