After a nearly 4-week-long trial, Pierre Haobsh was found guilty on all charges Wednesday afternoon in the 2016 triple murders of the Han family.
“I have no doubt, not even a shadow of doubt, of [Haobsh’s] guilt,” Superior Court Judge Brian Hill said at the conclusion of the trial.
Because Haobsh, 31, of Oceanside waived his right to a jury trial in the case, the “bench trial” was conducted before Hill, who had the responsibility of deciding Haobsh’s guilt or innocence.
On March 23, 2016, Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han, 31, founder of Santa Barbara Herb Clinic; his wife, Huijie “Jennie” Yu, 29; and their 5-year-old daughter were found slain and wrapped in plastic wrap in their garage on Greenhill Way near Goleta.
“Emily was a 5-year-old who was on the cusp of learning to play tag, maybe come to ride a bike. … Maybe eventually have her dad walk her down the aisle and give her away,” Supervising Deputy District Attorney Benjamin Ladinig said, becoming very emotional, during the prosecution’s closing arguments. “But they were robbed of that.”
Haobsh was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder with the special allegations that the killings were willful, premeditated, and deliberate; committed by means of lying in wait, and committed for financial gain.
Ladinig finished the remainder of his cross examination of Haobsh Wednesday morning by pointing out holes in Haobsh’s testimony, and detailing the several lies he has told friends and family in the past.
The prosecution presented dozens of text messages from Haobsh’s phone that show him telling people he was in China, when he did not actually go to China, and telling his friends and family that he was dying of cancer and had “one year max to live.”
Haobsh admitted he was never diagnosed with cancer by anyone.
“Now you go lying about being a billionaire, lying about going to China, and lying about having cancer,” Ladinig said. “You’re just a lying liar who lies about lying.”
Bank statements from Haobsh’s Chase bank account in 2015 and 2016 showed balances of zero and even -$143.57. These were from the same time period that Haobsh was telling people he had millions of dollars.
The prosecution’s closing statements reviewed the “mountain of evidence” against Haobsh, including everything that was found in Haobsh’s vehicle and testimony from witnesses.
“Dr. Han was, by all accounts, a wonderful person, but the only thing is that he may have been too trusting, too much of a father figure,” Ladinig said. “That was his downfall.”
Meanwhile, the defense’s closing arguments focused on what were characterized as “implausible, unprovable, impossible” elements of the prosecution’s arguments.
“It may be that the prosecution can think Mr. Haobsh’s testimony is absurd and implausible,” Supervising Deputy Public Defender Christine Voss said. “But we do not have the burden of proof.”
Voss pointed to the fact that investigator Jeffrey Ellis testified he did not even look into the possibility of hacking, saying he “simply looked the other way.”
The defense also questioned why Thomas Direda, Haobsh’s friend whom he confessed the murders to, did not report anything to the law enforcement earlier than he did, two days later.
“[Direda], in his own small way, was a little bit of a hero,” Ladinig countered during his closing arguments. “Without anything to gain … he gave an uncanny amount of detail.”
Despite the supposed inconsistencies the defense found in the prosecution’s arguments, Hill said he found Haobsh guilty beyond reasonable doubt, adding that he has put in a lot of time reviewing the evidence of the case throughout the trial.
Haobsh, who has remained in custody at the Santa Barbara County Jail since he was arrested days after the killings, is scheduled to be sentenced at 9 a.m. on Jan. 24, 2022.
Haobsh agreed to the bench trial rather than a jury trial in exchange for prosecutors agreeing not to pursue the death penalty.
With his conviction, Haobsh faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
— 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.