Pierre Haobsh’s triple-murder trial continued Tuesday in Santa Barbara County Superior Court, where the defendant gave a fantastical account of what he says happened in the days leading up to the murders of the Han family near Goleta.
Haobsh, 31, is accused of the 2016 murders of Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han, 57, founder of Santa Barbara Herb Clinic; his wife, Huijie “Jennie” Yu, 29; and their 5-year-old daughter, Emily. The family was found slain and wrapped in plastic sheeting in their garage in March 2016.
During his rambling testimony, Haobsh discussed the several companies he was involved in from 2012 through 2016.
In 2012, Haobsh was a partner in Revolutionary Energy Machines, where he worked with others on researching and producing energy units. He noted that police reports were filed early on in that project, as one of the energy units he built, as well as the computer-aided design files associated with it, were stolen.
Haobsh also said that there was some contention among the partners when his energy unit required a battery to jumpstart the unit, since the others wanted an energy unit that could work on its own without external power sources or being plugged in.
Haobsh ultimately left Revolutionary Energy Machines in 2014, and he said there was some “bad blood” between him and most of the other partners.
He did, however, continue to work with Lawrence Tang, who Haobsh described as a “Chinese billionaire.”
Haobsh testified that Tang wanted Haobsh to work with him directly in China. A trip to China appeared to be all set up with a letter to visit China, with traveling expenses covered by a company called Revenco. However, according to Haobsh, he didn’t end up going to China because the U.S. Department of Energy got involved when Tang and Haobsh were arranging to export the energy equipment.
Haobsh testified that the Department of Energy said it was a “direct threat to national security,” and required Haobsh to stay in the United States and cease work on the energy project.
“I stopped working on the energy project for a time because it scared the heck out of me,” Haobsh said.
He also said that at one point, the Department of Energy offered him a buyout of about $940 million, but there were strings attached. According to Haobsh, if he didn’t do what they wanted, they could prosecute him in federal court, as he said they set it up to look like Haobsh was involved in treasonous activity.
“They wanted to have means to blackmail me or control me,” Haobsh said.
Haobsh’s attorney, public defender Christine Voss, then presented a video Haobsh had taken of his online Chase bank account that appeared to have more than $940 million.
When Haobsh did not agree to the terms, he said, the Department of Energy took the money back.
After that, Haobsh testified that he enlisted in the military, where he was in the Army for a little more than a month. Haobsh said that he then worked with a special operations program with the Department of Energy. He added that part of the training included “torture and waterboarding.”
Voss pointed out that it isn’t on any of his military records, but Haobsh said that’s because the program was highly classified.
After that program is when Haobsh said he worked with the Molecular Scientific company and later continued working with Han on a cancer drug using artemisinin.
In March 2016, Haobsh said, an incident at the Three Palms Hotel in Scottsdale, Ariz., is what led him to purchase firearms at Arizona Firearms. He claimed that while he was in his room, his door opened and about five individuals entered his room.
“I noticed one of the individuals was pulling something that looked like a subcompact rifle. … I normally sleep with a handgun,” Haobsh said.
He then testified that he shot all of them in self-defense.
“I didn’t give them a chance [to shoot me],” Haobsh said.
Haobsh said he then went to get the rifle he keeps in his car and decided to go for a drive to calm down. When he returned to his hotel room, Haobsh said, there were no bodies or evidence of the shooting.
“I was afraid at this point if I called the cops, they’d call me crazy and take away my guns, which was the only thing I had to protect myself,” Haobsh said.
An online search turned up no evidence of such a shooting incident in Scottsdale at that time.
Haobsh also added that the handgun he left on the hotel dresser was gone when he returned, so he went to Arizona Firearms to purchase a Glock handgun, as he was concerned he would be attacked again.
After buying the firearms, Haobsh said he went to a home that a friend of his used as an Airbnb to get some sleep. There, he said, he experienced another similar incident as several people came in and bullets “whizzed past him.”
Haobsh testified that he was wearing body armor that he got from a past business associate, as he was concerned for his safety. He also said he suspected the people were hit squads from the Department of Energy, and he tried to contact the FBI, although he said he doesn’t think they believed him.
On March 21, 2016, Haobsh said he was in Santa Barbara and staying at the Han residence in order to sign a memorandum of understanding with Han.
Haobsh, Han and Tang had come up with a way to fund a project working on new energy units, Haobsh said. He said that Tang agreed to give Haobsh U.S. Treasury bonds that would amount to $15 million. Haobsh said that Han would then accept the bonds as the capital for the business, and take the bonds to a contact that could immediately monetize the bonds.
In the memorandum of understanding between Haobsh and Han, Haobsh claimed, he agreed to transfer $15 million as business operating capital to Obsidian Teradyne LLC. Haobsh also said that they had structured the memorandum of understanding so that Han could eventually step away from his clinic.
On March 22, 2016, Haobsh said he met a “really pretty lady named Rachel” after seeing a movie at Camino Real Cinemas in Goleta. He said they hit it off and were heading to Rachel’s house when an individual stopped Haobsh and gave him an address to an oil company in Cat Canyon, near Santa Maria, where his friend John Smith would be.
While driving to the address, Haobsh said he noticed an SUV following him, which made him think he was being led to a remote location by the Department of Energy, so he turned around and went back to Rachel’s house.
Haobsh claimed that he saw a similar SUV the next morning outside IHOP, and two individuals came out of the vehicle and shot at his chest. Haobsh said he was still wearing the body armor at the time, though.
That led Haobsh to get back in his car and drive to Thomas Direda’s warehouse to retrieve his energy equipment. Direda testified in October that Haobsh confessed to him that he murdered the Han family.
Again, an online search revealed no reports of a shooting at that time and location.
Haobsh said that when he went to the warehouse, all of his equipment was gone. By that time, Haobsh said, he left his phone in his Lexus after renting a 24-foot-long truck from Budget Rental.
Haobsh testified that he then called his friend John Inlow, who worked in the government, with a disposable phone. He said he originally called Inlow to have him check the cameras in his storage unit in Oceanside, but he couldn’t access them. Haobsh said he then had Inlow access his iCloud account to find Direda’s phone number and text him.
According to Haobsh, Inlow sent the text messages that read, “They just found everything.”
When Haobsh had Inlow check the location of his phone so he could return to the Budget Rental, Haobsh said, they found that his phone was moving, as if in a vehicle. According to Haobsh, he eventually caught up with and was following the SUV that his phone was in. He said he then saw his phone thrown out of the passenger window.
Because he was concerned for his safety, Haobsh said, he then planned to drive to Las Vegas to go to a casino where “there’s tons of cameras and video surveillance.”
Haobsh did not end up making it to Vegas as he was arrested that night in Oceanside.
“The last time I saw Henry [Han] would’ve been at his house on Tuesday. … And the last time I saw Jennie and Emily was at the dinner on Monday,” Haobsh said.
When prosecutors began cross examining Haobsh, Supervising Deputy District Attorney Benjamin Ladinig began picking apart Haobsh’s story, and asking about the multiple friends and family members who told investigators they did not trust him.
“Mr. Haobsh, do you believe anyone’s going to believe that nonsense?” Ladinig said. “Have you ever been called a bullshitter? How about a con artist?”
According to Ladinig, Haobsh’s sister told investigators that Haobsh was “a liar and a manipulator,” and his friend John Morgans said he would “rather trust a rattlesnake” than Haobsh.
“Who killed the Han family, then, if it wasn’t you?” Ladinig asked Haobsh.
The bench trial, which is being heard by Judge Brian Hill, is scheduled to continue with more testimony from Haobsh on Wednesday morning.
— Noozhawk staff writer Serena Guentz can be reached at sguentz@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.