Witnesses testified this week about the treatment and Psychiatric Health Facility hospitalization of a Goleta-area man found guilty of murdering his parents and two sons nearly four years ago.
Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Brian Hill is presiding over the criminal trial of Nicolas Holzer, 48, who is accused of stabbing to death his family on Aug. 11, 2014.
The victim were his parents, William Charles Holzer, 73, and Sheila Garard Holzer, 74, and his sons, Sebastian Holzer, 13, and Vincent Holzer, 10, who all died of multiple stab wounds in the home they shared with the defendant.
In the first phase of the trial, which was brief, Hill found Holzer guilty of committing the murders.
Holzer pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and the sanity phase of the trial started last week.
It’s the opposite of the previous phase of the criminal trial: the defense has the burden of proof in the case.
If Hill finds Holzer was insane at the time of the killings, he will be sent to the Department of State Hospitals, according to Deputy Public Defender Christine Voss, who is representing Holzer in the case.
If Holzer is found sane, he will be sentenced to prison for life without the possibility of parole.
Witnesses Monday included Dr. Howard Babus, who was the attending psychiatrist at the 16-bed inpatient Psychiatric Health Facility for more than 30 years, including when Holzer was involuntarily hospitalized there on April 10, 1998.
According to Babus, Holzer had stabbed himself in the abdomen with a kitchen knife and was taken to Cottage Hospital, where he refused a voluntary commitment to the PHF. Two days later, Holzer’s father called 9-1-1 to report Holzer was depressed and paranoid.
A mental health assessment team responded to the family home and, after finding Holzer unresponsive on the bed, took him to the PHF on a 72-hour 5150 involuntary hold, Babus said.
Holzer initially did not interact with PHF staff, and was sitting on the floor, staring ahead, when Babus first tried to talk to him.
Over the three-day hold, notes by PHF staff described Holzer as having paranoid beliefs that people were condemning him for his acts, that he deserved to die, and he had delusions focused on guilt related to mistakes and hurting other people, Babus testified.
“With his history, we knew he had a significant mental illness,” including delusions and a history of depression, he said.
Babus talked to Holzer’s psychiatrist at the time, Dr. Michael Stulberg, who had been treating Holzer since 1995. Stulberg said Holzer had developed psychotic depression while teaching English in Japan, Babus said.
Holzer did not meet the legal criteria for a 14-day hold, so he was released on April 13, Babus said.
He described Holzer’s self-stabbing and “noncommunicative” behavior as a severe episode, a “nine, nine-and-a-half out of 10,” in a serious mental illness.
Babus said he reviewed the interview of Holzer and Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s detectives after his arrest, interviews with psychiatrists, and other records before testifying Monday, and Voss asked about his assessment of Holzer’s behavior and mental illness diagnosis.
“With delusions, people who are delusional don’t believe they are delusional,” Babus said.
Holzer’s delusions he tells detectives about are “quite remarkable to me because they’re quite severe,” Babus said.
That interview, within hours of Holzer’s arrest, shows his thought process at the time, Babus added.
He described Holzer as being “matter of fact” while describing how he stabbed his family to death.
Voss asked Babus if he thought Holzer had the capacity to distinguish right from wrong at the time of the crimes, and Babus said no, and that Holzer was acutely psychotic at the time of the interview with detectives.
Babus also said he believes Holzer is schizophrenic. “That’s my current primary diagnosis,” he said.
Dr. Neal Mazer saw Holzer for three months, from March to June 2014, and his working diagnosis was low-level depression and a chronic delusional disorder, he testified in court.
Mazer has suffered memory problems in the years since 2014 and does not remember his sessions with Holzer, and relied on his notes from the time when testifying.
Mazer testified that he had not prescribed Holzer any medications, and said he believes that cognitive behavioral therapy is as effective as medication for treating delusions.
Holzer stopped coming to sessions in June of 2014, and Mazer said he didn’t know why.
A Santa Barbara County Jail mental health professional, Sara Sanchez, testified about her work with Holzer and others in the jail’s segregated housing unit.
Sanchez, a psychotherapist and licensed marriage and family therapist, said Holzer has been housed in a single cell, by himself, since being booked into custody.
The cell has a bunk, a small metal desk and a toilet, and Holzer has scheduled access to an exercise yard (by himself) and a “day room” – a room with a table, but no TV or library, Sanchez said.
Her job includes checking on mental health patients in the County Jail and segregated housing inmates for health and wellness needs. She checks in three times a week on basic needs, self-care and hygiene, mental health status and suicide risk factors, she said.
Holzer’s hygiene was “below average” for 2015, which is when she started working at the jail, she said.
He didn’t cut his hair or beard, which sometimes had food in it, and had dirty linens on the floor of his cell.
He was “not very communicative about anything,” she said.
About a year to 18 months ago, she said, Holzer started talking more and started to make more regular requests to get his hair cut (by the “in-house barber” who is a protective custody inmate at the jail), and asked for other jail services, like seeing the psychiatrist and getting reading materials.
Holzer is currently on medications, including mood stabilizers, she said.
Testimony in the case will continue Wednesday.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.