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Haobsh trial: Defense calls first witnesses By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTO
Pierre Haobsh is arraigned May 5, 2016. He was arrested March 25, 2016, for the murder of Chinese herbalist Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han, 57; wife, Huijie “Jennie” Yu, 29; and 5-year-old daughter, Emily Han.
The defense began to call its first witnesses in the trial of Pierre Haobsh Thursday in the Santa Barbara County Superior Court. Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Scott, who worked as a criminal investigations detective in March 2016, was the first one called by Mr. Haobsh’s public defenders in the murder trial. Mr. Scott responded to the Han family home in the 4600 block of Greenhill Way near Goleta the afternoon of March 23, 2016. He canvassed the neighborhood with other deputies and was given reports of suspicious activity from a mother and a daughter who lived near
the Han family. Elisabeth Cortenay told law enforcement that, around midnight the night before the murders, she saw an Asian man by a group of mailboxes and the adjacent bushes. Public defender Christine Voss asked whether the man was in the bushes, but Mr. Scott’s report only said the man was near the shrubs. Ms. Cortenay’s daughter Marisa Brownfield told law enforcement that an Asian man in a dark sedan followed her into the neighborhood and turned onto Greenhill Way. She said she knew Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han, and she did not think the man was Dr. Han. Ms. Voss asked Deputy Scott if investigators had followed up beyond the initial interviews. He
said he gave the tips to the lead investigators; they discussed them and decided they were not relevant to the case. In his cross-examination of Deputy Scott, prosecutor Hilary Dozer asked if the women gave any description of the man other than his race. Mr. Scott said the only adjective they gave was “helter skelter.” Ms. Voss asked if he was aware of three Asian men who were associated with the case (other than Dr. Han). He said yes. Two of the men ate dinner with Dr. Han the evening of March 22, Mr. Dozer said during re-cross. “Certainly being an Asian male doesn’t raise a red flag as far as suspicion, does it?” he asked. No, Mr. Scott said. His testimony was under an hour, and he was dismissed.
The defense’s second witness, Nico Fricchione, had been contested by prosecutors prior to Thursday. When they heard his name on the schedule, they asked if he was relevant to the case. Public Defender Michael Hanley said Mr. Fricchione’s testimony challenges the prosecution’s theory that a device found with the suspected murder weapon, a .22-caliber pistol, was a homemade suppressor/silencer. Mr. Fricchione, who joined the court via Zoom from Tempe, Ariz., said he reached out to Mr. Haobsh in 2014 when he was interested in muffling the sound of a pneumatic nail gun. Mr. Fricchione was part of his father’s construction company, which builds small structures in a warehouse setting. They were worried about the noisy
environment, and Mr. Fricchione knew Mr. Haobsh, a neighbor in his apartment complex, had an engineering mind. Mr. Fricchione, with the advice of Mr. Haobsh, measured the noise of the nail gun with his father in Pennsylvania. His father decided the project was going to be too costly and changed direction. “It was a very short-lived project,” Mr. Fricchione told Mr. Dozer. “As quickly as it began was as quickly as it stopped.” The defense provided evidence of a short email exchange that occurred in 2014 as they planned to test the noise. The bulk of Thursday was spent finishing the cross examination of Jeff Ellis, investigator for the district attorney’s office. Please see TRIAL on A2
Northern Branch jail opens Sheriff and others speak at ribbon cutting ceremony in Santa Maria
DAVE MASON/NEWS-PRESS
From left, architect Brian Cearnal of Cearnal Collective; Rob Skinner, CEO of The Towbes Group; Caren Rager, executive director of The Granada; Palmer Jackson Jr., executive chairman of The Granada and Oscar Gutierrez, the Santa Barbara mayor pro tem, gather for the ribbon cutting for Plaza Granada.
Ribbon-cutting ceremony honors Plaza Granada By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Sheriff Bill Brown addresses the crowd Thursday during the ribboncutting ceremony for the Northern Branch Jail in Santa Maria.
success.” The new facility is an approximately 133,000 squareThe new Northern Branch foot, 376-bed Type II jail Jail on Black Road in Santa facility. A Type II facility is Maria opened Thursday with a defined as a local detention ribbon-cutting ceremony. facility used for the detention of “We have gathered today to persons pending arraignment symbolically usher during trial and To see streaming video in a new era of upon a sentence of GO TO corrections, in commitment. newspress.com Santa Barbara “When I first County — a more ran for sheriff I humane, a more made it a campaign understanding, and a safer promise that I would work and more effective way of hard to secure a new jail,” holding people accountable for Sheriff Brown said. “But more criminal offenses,” Sheriff Bill importantly, the right size and Brown told the audience at the kind of jail that would make ceremony. “But in a way that it a place where people’s lives offers them tools and resources could be changed. I believed for personal growth, positive then as I do now in holding change, sobriety and lifelong By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
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Sheriff Bill Brown assists with the ribbon cutting.
An old parking area behind The Granada has become something greater with safer access, better lighting and a mural that literally dances off the wall. All of that was mentioned Thursday during a ribboncutting ceremony for the new $2 million Plaza Granada, which provides an upgraded walkway for theatergoers and others. The amenities also include a limited number of parking spaces and an improved parking and drop-off facility behind the theater. The centerpiece, though, is clearly the long mural saluting the arts, which graces the walkway. It was created by Santa Barbara artists Tracy Lee Stum and Sayak Mitra. And Thursday’s cutting of the ceremonial ribbon, with a giant scissor, was done in front of that mural. Caren Rager, executive director of The Granada, cut the ribbon with several people at her left and right: architect Brian Cearnal of Cearnal Collective; Rob Skinner, CEO of The Towbes Group; Palmer Jackson Jr., executive chairman of The Granada, and Oscar Gutierrez,
the Santa Barbara mayor pro tem. Watching them was a small crowd, which earlier heard speeches about what the project meant to The Granada and the community. “The board of directors and staff of The Granada Theatre are proud to have spearheaded this project, and we’re grateful to those who helped make it possible,” Mr. Jackson told the audience, which included Mayor-elect Randy Rowse and Santa Barbara City Council members Eric Friedman and Alejandra Gutierrez. “In addition to the mural that now lines this walkway, this long-awaited and meticulously planned restoration also features improvements to lighting and pavement upgrades for an aesthetically enhanced, safer and more enjoyable experience with the Santa Barbara shopping, dining and cultural district,” Mr. Jackson said. He also thanked various partners who helped to make the restoration possible. In his speech before the group, Mayor Pro Tem Gutierrez noted, “The Granada is a symbol of how beautiful and how diverse our city is.” email: dmason@newspress.com
INSIDE
L O T T E RY RESULTS
Classified................. B5 Life...................... B1-2 Obituaries............... A6
Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: 11-13-42-43-44 Meganumber: 16
Thursday’s DAILY 4: 0-5-4-1
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 6-22-44-53-65 Meganumber: 3
Thursday’s FANTASY 5: 4-6-12-25-33
Thursday’s DAILY DERBY: 05-09-02 Time: 1:40.74
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: 3-16-48-52-60 Meganumber: 1
Sudoku................... B3 Sports . .................... A3 Weather................. A6
Thursday’s DAILY 3: 1-1-5 / Wednesday’s Midday 9-6-4