Dekraai Hearing to Debate Death Penalty

Attorneys today will discuss holding an evidentiary hearing in which defense lawyers citing "government misconduct" will try to spare their client from getting the death penalty for the worst mass killing in Orange County history.

Dekraai was convicted of eight counts of murder, with a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, for a massacre at the Salon Meritage beauty shop in Seal Beach on Oct. 12, 2011, when he killed his ex-wife and seven others.

Attorneys today will discuss holding an evidentiary hearing that will put senior prosecutors and Orange County sheriff's officials on the stand this month as defense attorneys try to convince a judge that the government's alleged misconduct should get the accused off the death penalty hook.

Orange County Public Defenders representing Scott Evans Dekraai filed a motion a week ago today to have the Orange County District Attorney's Office taken off the case. Attorneys are expected to also discuss today when to hold a hearing on that motion.

The defense attorneys want the Attorney General's Office to take over the prosecution of Dekraai. A ruling from Orange Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals on that issue is not expected until the week of March 10, when the hearing on the government's alleged misconduct allegations could begin.

Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders alleges that the Orange County Sheriff's Department is improperly using jailhouse informants to collect evidence against Dekraai and multiple other defendants.

Assistant District Attorney Dan Wagner, who is prosecuting Dekraai, earlier this month said a 505-page motion from Sanders was "filled with untruths."

--City News Service